Short answer. No. On motion, the court may issue an alias summons to replace one that was lost or destroyed. The original summons otherwise stays valid until it is actually served or recalled by the court, so losing the physical document does not restart or derail the case.
What the law says
Summons shall remain valid until duly served, unless it is recalled by the court. In case of loss or destruction of summons, the court may, upon motion, issue an alias summons. There is failure of service after unsuccessful attempts to personally serve the summons on the defendant in his or her address indicated in the complaint.
Rule 14, Section 4 — Validity of summons and issuance of alias summons[.]. Read the full provision →
Summons doesn't expire on its own
The rule states plainly that summons remains valid until duly served, unless the court itself recalls it for some reason. There is no built-in shelf life or expiration date that causes a summons to lapse simply because time has passed without service being accomplished; only actual completed service, or an affirmative court recall, brings its validity to an end. This matters practically because service can take weeks or months if the defendant is hard to locate, and plaintiffs should not have to worry that the summons itself has gone stale while they are still working to accomplish service.
The alias summons remedy
For the specific problem of a lost or destroyed summons, the rule provides a direct and simple fix: the court may, upon motion filed by the interested party, issue an alias summons. This lets the case continue moving toward proper service without needing to relitigate whether the underlying complaint or the case itself remains valid — only a fresh replacement copy of the process document is actually needed here. The motion for an alias summons is a simple administrative request, not an occasion to relitigate the merits of the case or the validity of the underlying complaint.
What counts as failure of service
The provision also touches on when service is considered to have failed in the first place: after unsuccessful attempts to personally serve the summons on the defendant at the address indicated in the complaint itself. That kind of failure typically opens the door to the next available mode of service, substituted service, carried out in the specific manner the Rules separately provide elsewhere for that situation.
Practical sequence for a lost summons
Put together, a lost or destroyed summons is handled simply by motion for an alias summons, while the underlying validity of the process to be served is left entirely unaffected by that physical loss. The case is not derailed or set back to square one; the plaintiff simply needs to secure a replacement copy through the court before service on the defendant can properly proceed.
Related provisions
- Rule 14, Section 4 — Validity of summons and issuance of alias summons[.]
- Rule 14, Section 3 — By whom served
- Rule 14, Section 5 — Service in person on defendant