Service of process

(a) A consent to service of process complying with this section shall be signed and filed in the form required by a rule or order under this chapter. A consent appointing the commissioner the person's agent for service of process in a noncriminal action or proceeding against the person, or the person's successor or personal representative under this chapter or a rule adopted or order issued under this chapter after the consent is filed, has the same force and validity as if the service were made personally on the person filing the consent. A person that has filed a consent complying with this subsection in connection with a previous application for registration or notice filing need not file an additional consent. (b) If a person, including a nonresident of this State, engages in an act, practice, or course of business prohibited or made actionable by this chapter or a rule adopted or order issued under this chapter and the person has not filed a consent to service of process under subsection (a), the act, practice, or course of business constitutes the appointment of the commissioner as the person's agent for service of process in a noncriminal action or proceeding against the person or the person's successor or personal representative. (c) Service under subsection (a) or (b) may be made by providing a copy of the process to the office of the commissioner; provided that it shall not be effective unless: (1) The plaintiff, which may be the commissioner, promptly sends notice of the service and a copy of the process, return receipt requested, to the defendant or respondent at the address set forth in the consent to service of process or, if a consent to service of process has not been filed, at the last known address, or takes other reasonable steps to give notice; and (2) The plaintiff files an affidavit of compliance with this subsection in the action or proceeding on or before the return day of the process, if any, or within the time that the court, or the commissioner in a proceeding before the commissioner, allows. (d) Service pursuant to subsection (c) may be used in a proceeding before the commissioner or by the commissioner in a civil action in which the commissioner is the moving party. (e) If process is served under subsection (c), the court, or the commissioner in a proceeding before the commissioner, shall order continuances as are necessary or appropriate to afford the defendant or respondent reasonable opportunity to defend. (f) If any process or pleadings mentioned in this chapter are served upon the commissioner, it shall be by duplicate copies, one of which shall be filed in the office of the commissioner and another immediately forwarded by the commissioner by registered mail to the principal office of the issuer against which the process or pleadings are directed.