Leaving a summons lying on the grass where it can blow away or not be noticed is not the appropriate way to serve it, especially if the document involves something as big as the possibility of losing one’s home.

This, notes a Pretoria News report, is according to a full Bench of the Gauteng High Court (Pretoria), who said a sheriff who served a summons always had a duty to ensure that it would land in the correct hands.

The court said where delivery of a notice or summons was to be delivered to the home of the person involved it would, equally, not be enough to merely drop it over the fence or stick it into a hedge.

This issue came about after the sheriff of the court arrived at a home in Bela Bela to issue summons on Anet Maré and claimed he attached a copy to her gate and on the lawn.

This despite Maré saying that she was home at the time.

Maré said she did not receive the summons and so had no idea of pending legal proceedings against her, or of the bank’s intention to sell the house, which it did without her knowledge after obtaining a default judgment when she failed to appear in court.

Judge Elizabeth Kubushi granted a rescission order on the grounds that the notice was not properly delivered, but Absa, not happy with not having the house or bond repayment, appealed, arguing that the re-transfer of the property to Maré would leave it without real security over the property to satisfy its claim against her.

But, notes the Pretoria News, the court said this was not the issue it needed to consider, as the proceedings which were followed in serving the summons were flawed.

There was no proper service of the summons and, therefore, no proper sale in place.

In turning down Absa’s appeal, the court said the obvious way to serve such an important document was to hand it to the person in question, or to a responsible employee, or even to push it under the front door or into a postbox.

Full Pretoria News report

Judgment