District of Columbia Code Division II. Judiciary and Judicial Procedure § 13-337. Personal service outside District in lieu of publication.

(a) In actions specified by section 13-336, personal service of process may be made on a nonresident defendant out of the District, and the service has the same effect, and no other, as an order of publication duly executed.

(b) The service may be made by any person not a party to or otherwise interested in the subject-matter in controversy. The return shall be made under oath in the District of Columbia, unless the person making the service is a sheriff, deputy sheriff, marshal, or deputy marshal, authorized to serve process where service is made. The return must show the time and place of service and that the defendant so served is a nonresident of the District of Columbia.

(c) The cost and expense of such service of process out of the District shall be borne by the party at whose instance it is made and may not be taxed as part of the costs in the case; but where the service of process is made by an authorized officer of the law specified by this section, the actual and usual cost of the service of process shall be taxed as a part of the costs in the case.