Starr Indemnity Company v. Joe's Logistics, Inc.

Filing 5

ORDER signed by District Judge Troy L. Nunley on 07/24/17 ORDERING that 4 Plaintiff' application to serve Defendant through the California Secretary of State is hereby DENIED. (Benson, A)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STARR INDEMNITY COMPANY, 12 13 14 15 16 No. 2:17-cv-01263-TLN-EFB Plaintiff, v. ORDER DENYING APPLICATION JOE’S LOGISTICS INC. d/b/a JOE’S TRUCKING, Defendant. 17 18 This matter involves an insurance contract with Starr Indemnity where — in exchange for 19 payment of premiums — insurance was provided for liabilities of Joe’s Logistics. Plaintiff Starr 20 Indemnity (“Plaintiff”) filed suit on June 20, 2017. (Compl., ECF No. 1.) On July 20, 2017, 21 Plaintiff filed an application to allow service of Defendant Joe’s Logistics (“Defendant”) upon the 22 California Secretary of State pursuant to California Corporations Code § 1702(a). Plaintiff 23 presents affidavits from the process server that explains the process server was unable to serve the 24 corporations agent at his address. (ECF No. 4-4.) The process server attempted service at the 25 address on nine separate occasions. (ECF No. 4-4 at 2–3.) On two occasions he was able to get 26 to the front of the residence but on the remaining seven instances the gate to the property was 27 closed and no one answered when the process server honked his car horn. (ECF No. 4-4 at 2–3.) 28 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e)(1) allows individuals to serve parties in federal court 1 1 by “following state law for serving a summons in an action brought in courts of general 2 jurisdiction in the state where the district court is located or where service is made.” California 3 law permits a person to serve a corporation through the California Secretary of State when the 4 agent designated cannot with reasonable diligence be served under California Code of Civil 5 Procedure § 415.30. Cal. Corp. Code § 1702(a). California Code of Civil Procedure§ 415.30 6 allows a summons to be served by mail. Plaintiff does not state it attempted to serve Defendant 7 by mail. Accordingly, Plaintiff does not meet the requirements of section 1702(a). Plaintiff’s 8 application to serve Defendant through the California Secretary of State is hereby DENIED. 9 IT IS SO ORDERED. 10 11 Dated: July 24, 2017 12 13 14 Troy L. Nunley United States District Judge 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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