What if the defendant does not answer to my claim or does not turn up in court? This is a common question that a potential plaintiff would query about before instituting a lawsuit. Perhaps the obvious thinking of such a party, who is not familiar with judicial proceedings, is that his case would be stalled because either the defendant decides not to answer his claims or because the defendant does not turn up in court. The lawsuit does not get stalled if the judicial acts (the lawsuit papers) are legally served upon the defendant. As a matter of fact, the procedural code prescribes the manner in which a judicial service is to be effected – this is held in article 187 of the Code of Organisation and Civil Procedure.