{"id":1824,"date":"2018-04-05T09:37:06","date_gmt":"2018-04-05T17:37:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trainingpips.com\/?post_type=glossary&p=1824"},"modified":"2025-12-16T10:08:43","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T18:08:43","slug":"complaint","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/glossary\/complaint\/","title":{"rendered":"Complaint"},"content":{"rendered":"

A complaint<\/a> is the initial pleading<\/a> that begins a civil<\/a> lawsuit<\/a>. It sets out the plaintiff’s allegations, identifies the parties, states the legal<\/a> claims being asserted, and specifies the relief requested from the court.<\/p>\n

For process servers, the complaint<\/a> is significant because it is the document that must be served to formally notify the defendant<\/a> of the lawsuit<\/a><\/strong>. In Washington, the complaint<\/a> is typically served together with a summons, and proper service of both documents is required for the court to obtain personal jurisdiction<\/a> over the defendant<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Practical point: The complaint<\/a> establishes who must be served, how they are named, and the nature of the action<\/a><\/strong>, all of which guide decisions about the method, location, and timing of service.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A complaint<\/a> is the initial pleading<\/a> that begins a civil<\/a> lawsuit<\/a>. It sets out the plaintiff’s allegations, identifies the parties, states the legal<\/a> claims being asserted, and specifies the relief requested from the court. For process servers, the complaint<\/a> is significant because it is the document that must be served to formally notify the defendant<\/a> […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"glossary-categories":[],"glossary-tags":[],"glossary-languages":[],"class_list":["post-1824","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"post_title":"Complaint","post_content":"

A complaint is the initial pleading that begins a civil lawsuit. It sets out the plaintiff\u2019s allegations, identifies the parties, states the legal claims being asserted, and specifies the relief requested from the court.<\/p>\n

For process servers, the complaint is significant because it is the document that must be served to formally notify the defendant of the lawsuit<\/strong>. In Washington, the complaint is typically served together with a summons, and proper service of both documents is required for the court to obtain personal jurisdiction over the defendant.<\/p>\n

Practical point: The complaint establishes who must be served, how they are named, and the nature of the action<\/strong>, all of which guide decisions about the method, location, and timing of service.<\/p>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/1824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/1824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24815,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/1824\/revisions\/24815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"glossary-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-categories?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"glossary-tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-tags?post=1824"},{"taxonomy":"glossary-languages","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary-languages?post=1824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}