Wallace R. Brown hired Jeffrey Thaler, an attorney with Berman & Simmons, to represent him in an effort to recover damages for three of his commercial fishing vessels that suffered from an oil spill.
During the time of representation, Thaler moved from Berman & Simmons to Bernstein, Shur, Sawyer & Nelson (BSSN). Unhappy with Thaler's work, Brown filed a complaint with the superior court against Thaler, Berman & Simmons, and BSSN, seeking damages. Brown used certified mail to send the summons and complaint to the defendants. According to Maine law, to complete service by mail,
(1) the summons and complaint must be mailed to the person to be served;
(2) the served documents must be accompanied by a notice and acknowledgment form and a prepaid envelope to be returned to the sender with the signed acknowledgement form; and
(3) the signed acknowledgment form must be filed with the court. None of the defendants acknowledged service, and they filed suit to dismiss Brown's claims for lack of proper notification. The court dismissed Brown's claim.
If you were Brown, what could you have done to ensure that proper service was made?
Brown v. Thaler, 880 A.2d 1113 (Me. 2005).