Still No Rule 4(d)
It’s been more than a week since Christopher Ambrose told me he had sent a Rule 4(d) waiver packet “more than 30 days ago.” He has yet to produce proof.
What he did send—on Sept. 7—was not a packet. It was a copy of his First Amended Complaint, stripped of the forms and notices that make a waiver request real under federal rules.
The law is simple: if a plaintiff wants to avoid the cost of serving a defendant, Rule 4(d) gives them a path. But it requires paperwork—AO 398, AO 399, the complaint, the warning notice, and proof of transmission. Ambrose has produced none of it.
My Latest Response
I wrote him again.
I told him I am willing to waive service—if he sends a proper Rule 4(d) packet. No packet, no waiver. If he prefers to send a process server to Big Pine Key, so be it.
The choice is his. He can send the forms, or he can pay for a process server.
The Litigation Queen
Ambrose has turned lawsuits into his life work.
Chris Ambrose seen outside his children’s cousin’s house trying to arrest his teenage children to force them to live with him.
He sued his ex-wife, his son’s godmother, his two brothers, a blogger, a psychiatrist, and myself – a journalist. He is trying hard right now to have his ex wife arrested.
For me, this is the second time he sued me. Back in 2022 he sued me for defamation in Connecticutt state court. I yanked it from state court to federal; the judge said my removal was timely because Ambrose never actually served me, and then His Litigious Highness went radio silent.
He begged for extensions to answer my motion to dismiss and still filed nothing. After two years, on May 29, 2024, Judge Michael P. Shea did what courts do when a plaintiff won’t show up: dismissed the case for failure to prosecute.
No discovery. No depositions. Just a plaintiff who files a complaint but couldn’t be bothered to answer my motion to dismiss his own lawsuit.
Now we are in round 2. This time, he can’t seem to manage properly serving the complaint.
Why This Might Matter
Christopher Ambrose calling the police on reporter, Wayne Docifino, who sought an interview about reports that he was keeping his children unlawfully confined.
Ambrose went to law school at NYU. He practiced law. He was suspended. He was a TV screenwriter, writing shows about the law. He was caught in a plagiarism scandal in 2018 and torpedoed his otherwise successful TV writing career.
With all his lawsuits and his background, he should understand how Rule 4(d) works.
Yet here we are: still waiting for a packet that never comes.
The Record So Far
Sept. 2: Ambrose emails me, asking me to waive service by email.
Sept. 3: I reply: “Send a proper Rule 4(d) packet.”
Sept. 3 (later): Ambrose claims he already sent one 30+ days ago.
Sept. 4: I ask for proof.
Sept. 7: He sends only a complaint, missing all required forms.
Sept. 18: Still nothing.
The Sheriff Came Calling
Chris Ambrose in a video conference with Judge O’Neil where he sought to have his ex wife arrested because their children wanted to have contact with her.
Last week, Ambrose sent a Monroe County Florida deputy sheriff to my house to serve me. I wasn’t there. I am away on business.
If Ambrose wants to keep trying personal service, he’s welcome to pay for more deputies to knock on the door. He can also wait until I return and serve me then. The rule in Connecticut for defamation lawsuits is in-person service or court-approved alternative – or a simple Rule 4(d) waiver.
He could have avoided this. He could have gotten me on record with a Rule 4(d) waiver. That would have given me 60 days to answer, given him a clean record with the judge, and saved him money.
Instead, he’s paying deputy sheriffs while refusing to send the actual forms.
Service: The Starter Pistol
Ambrose, in red car, in a high speed chase, trying to run his teenage daughter off the road, because she wanted to leave his house.
Every lawsuit starts with service of process. It’s not a courtesy. It’s the law. Service means this: the plaintiff (Ambrose) must hand the defendant (me) the papers — the summons and the complaint — so the defendant can’t say they never knew. It’s due process.
Service of process goes back thousands of years.
Ancient Roots: In Roman law, you couldn’t haul someone into court unless you first gave them notice (in ius vocatio).
English Common Law: By the 1300s–1400s, English courts required the sheriff to literally go out and “summon” the defendant. If the sheriff couldn’t find him, cases stalled. This “writ and summons” practice is the ancestor of today’s service rules.
Colonial America: The early colonies copied English procedure — service by sheriff or marshal, sometimes by public notice if the person couldn’t be found.
Modern U.S. Law: When the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were adopted in 1938, Rule 4 standardized service in federal cases. In 1993, Rule 4(d) added the “waiver” option — mail (or now email) it is a way to avoid wasting sheriffs on people who are willing to accept papers.
Without service or process, courts can’t claim jurisdiction over you. The waiver by mail/email part is newer — you can’t be judged until you’ve been served — is as old as Magna Carta.
Here is a little legal jargon history.
“Service” is the act of formally delivering legal papers to another party. You’ll hear lawyers say: “Have they been served?”
“Process” is the old-fashioned word for the initial court documents — the summons, writ, or complaint that “processes” the defendant into the court system. It comes from English common law. A “writ of process” was the official paper commanding someone to appear.
“Service of process” literally means delivering the official court papers that start the legal process.
Process is the paper; service is the deliver.
Ambrose Has the Next Move
Ambrose, the man who sues everyone but can’t serve anyone, got another offer from me.
I told him:
Email me the file-stamped complaint.
Confirm, in writing, that I have 60 days from that email to answer.
If he insists on paperwork, I gave him the Rule 4(d) option: send me AO 398 and AO 399, and I’ll sign. Same result—60 days. Either way, he wins on service. I win on convenience. Everybody saves time.
Unless, of course, Ambrose refuses.
Ambrose lives in this $2 million beach home, yet told the court in another lawsuit that he was too poor to pay the filing fee.
The Clock Is Ticking
Ambrose’s complaint isn’t new anymore. He filed it on July 17. Under Rule 4(m) he has 90 days to serve me — the deadline is October 15, 2025. If there’s no proof of service by October 22, the case is subject to dismissal.
He has less than a month left.
This isn’t about evading a lawsuit. I want to defend it. However, I won’t pretend he followed the rules when he didn’t.
The record shows: I offered him email service with 60 days on the clock. If he takes it, I’ll respond. If he doesn’t, he can keep paying deputies to knock on my house in Big Pine Key.
And when October 15 comes and goes, I’ll make a motion to dismiss and he can start all over again.
