A default judgment is the most common way an American civil case ends, and a disturbing share of them rest on service that never actually happened. This article explains the law of being sued without knowing it. It covers what service is really for — notice, and the court's power over you — and the constitutional standard that governs it. It explains why service by publication is a fiction the law tolerates, which methods work and which fail, and how sewer service became an industry. It then works through how defaults are entered, the crucial difference between a voidable default and a void one, the two very different standards for vacating each, and what a judgment creditor can and cannot do with a defective judgment years later. It ends with what to do on the day you find out.