certificate of service
certificate of service. A section of a pleading or motion filed with the court, usu. contained separately on the last page, in which the filing party certifies to the court that a copy has been mailed to or otherwise served on all other parties. • A certificate of service is usu. not included with the initial pleading that the plaintiff files to begin a suit, because that pleading is usu. filed before it is served (although the plaintiff may be required to file proof of service). Other pleadings and motions are usu. required to have a certificate of service. Fed. R. Civ. P. 5(d). — Also termed proof of service. [Cases: Federal Civil Procedure 665; Pleading 336; Process 132. C.J.S. Pleading §§ 577, 579–583; Process §§ 79–80.]
