Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
E419026
Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is the provision that sets the time limit and consequences for serving a summons and complaint on a defendant in federal civil cases.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Rule 4(j) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure | 1 |
| Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4200232 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Context triple: [Rule 15, interactsWith, Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure]
-
A.
Rule 9 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Rule 9 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is the provision that sets out special pleading requirements in U.S. federal civil cases, including heightened specificity for matters such as fraud, mistake, and special damages.
-
B.
Rule 44
Rule 44 is a provision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that governs the right to and appointment of counsel for defendants in federal criminal cases, including issues of joint representation and potential conflicts of interest.
-
C.
United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are a comprehensive set of rules governing civil litigation in U.S. federal courts, shaping how lawsuits are filed, conducted, and resolved.
-
D.
Rule 405
Rule 405 is a provision of the Federal Rules of Evidence that governs the methods by which a party may prove a person’s character when character is admissible as evidence in a case.
-
E.
Rule 56
Rule 56 is the provision in the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that governs summary judgment, allowing courts to decide cases without trial when there is no genuine dispute of material fact.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Target entity description: Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is the provision that sets the time limit and consequences for serving a summons and complaint on a defendant in federal civil cases.
-
A.
Rule 9 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Rule 9 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is the provision that sets out special pleading requirements in U.S. federal civil cases, including heightened specificity for matters such as fraud, mistake, and special damages.
-
B.
Rule 44
Rule 44 is a provision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure that governs the right to and appointment of counsel for defendants in federal criminal cases, including issues of joint representation and potential conflicts of interest.
-
C.
United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
The United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure are a comprehensive set of rules governing civil litigation in U.S. federal courts, shaping how lawsuits are filed, conducted, and resolved.
-
D.
Rule 405
Rule 405 is a provision of the Federal Rules of Evidence that governs the methods by which a party may prove a person’s character when character is admissible as evidence in a case.
-
E.
Rule 56
Rule 56 is the provision in the U.S. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure that governs summary judgment, allowing courts to decide cases without trial when there is no genuine dispute of material fact.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
procedural rule
ⓘ
rule of civil procedure ⓘ |
| allows | court to extend time for service even without good cause in its discretion ⓘ |
| amended |
1993
ⓘ
2015 restyling and time-change amendments ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
civil actions in United States district courts
ⓘ
service on corporations ⓘ service on individuals ⓘ service on partnerships and other entities ⓘ service on the United States and its agencies subject to specific provisions ⓘ |
| bindingOn |
federal district courts
ⓘ
parties in federal civil litigation ⓘ |
| codifies | deadline for service of process after filing the complaint ⓘ |
| consequence | dismissal without prejudice for failure to serve within the time limit ⓘ |
| crossReferences |
Rule 4(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
ⓘ
Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure self-linksurface differs ⓘ
surface form:
Rule 4(j) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
|
| doesNotApplyTo | service in a foreign country ⓘ |
| enactedUnder | 28 U.S.C. § 2072 ⓘ |
| exception |
service in a foreign country under Rule 4(f)
ⓘ
service of a minor or incompetent person in a foreign country under Rule 4(f) ⓘ |
| governs |
consequences of failure to timely serve a defendant
ⓘ
time limit for service of summons and complaint ⓘ |
| interpretedBy |
Supreme Court of the United States
ⓘ
surface form:
United States Supreme Court
United States courts of appeals ⓘ United States district courts ⓘ |
| jurisdiction |
U.S. federal courts
ⓘ
surface form:
United States federal courts
|
| legalEffect |
encourages prompt service of process
ⓘ
protects defendants from stale claims due to delayed service ⓘ |
| locatedIn |
United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
ⓘ
surface form:
Title II of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
|
| partOf |
United States Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
ⓘ
surface form:
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
|
| policyPurpose |
ensure notice to defendants within a reasonable time after filing
ⓘ
promote efficient progress of civil cases ⓘ |
| previousTimeLimit | 120 days after the complaint is filed ⓘ |
| provides |
court must dismiss the action without prejudice if defendant is not served within the time limit
ⓘ
court must order service to be made within a specified time if defendant is not served within the time limit ⓘ |
| relatedTo |
Rule 4(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
ⓘ
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(1) ⓘ
surface form:
Rule 4(d) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
|
| remedy |
discretionary extension of time for service without good cause
ⓘ
dismissal without prejudice of unserved defendants ⓘ extension of time for service upon a showing of good cause ⓘ |
| requires |
court to extend time for service if plaintiff shows good cause for failure to serve
ⓘ
plaintiff to serve the summons and complaint within the specified time period ⓘ |
| setsTimeLimit | 90 days after the complaint is filed ⓘ |
| sourceOfLaw | Supreme Court–promulgated rules under the Rules Enabling Act ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
complaint
ⓘ
service of process ⓘ summons ⓘ |
| timeLimitAmended | 2015 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Description of subject: Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure is the provision that sets the time limit and consequences for serving a summons and complaint on a defendant in federal civil cases.
Referenced by (2)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
→
crossReferences
→
Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
self-linksurface differs
ⓘ
this entity surface form:
Rule 4(j) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure