How do you file a lawsuit when there’s no one to sue?

Imagine this scenario - someone buys a parcel of land, and when they go to sell it or divide it, it’s discovered that a portion of the land was not included in the purchase deed. Almost always, even the seller thought they were including the forgotten land.

Sometimes, enough time has passed since the purchase that the sellers have passed away. If the court has not determined the seller’s heirs, there is literally no one to sign a deed correcting the mistake. So what does our beleaguered property owner do? You can probably guess from the title that they have to bring a lawsuit (the grounds of which will be covered in another post).

The problem is, normally, a lawsuit must name a specific person or entity as defendant. Then the lawsuit must be personally served. That is, a notice of the suit is actually handed by the county sheriff to the person being sued.

So in the example above, what can be done? First, the property owner names as defendant the original seller’s heirs or anyone else who may have an interest in the property. Next, the property owner asks the court for permission to publish a legal notice in a local paper rather than personally serve the lawsuit, as that would be impossible. If the legal notice is published and no one responds, the lawsuit can continue to eventual, unopposed, victory.

Finding yourself in such a difficult situation requires creative legal solutions. The team at Levine Law would be happy to help.