Stratas Foods LLC v. J.B. Cusick Company, Inc.

Filing 7

ORDER signed by Magistrate Judge Chi Soo Kim on 1/28/2025 GRANTING 5 Motion to permit alternate service and an extension of time to serve Defendant; and DIRECTING Plaintiff to serve Defendant through the California Secretary of State within 30 days of this order's issuance. (Deputy Clerk RRB)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 9 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 11 STRATAS FOODS LLC, 12 Plaintiff, 13 14 v. J.B. CUSICK COMPANY, INC., 15 Defendant. Case No. 2:24-cv-02414-CSK ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR ALTERNATE SERVICE (ECF No. 5) 16 Plaintiff Stratas Foods LLC moves (1) to extend time for service, and (2) for 17 18 substituted service upon Defendant J.B. Cusick Company, Inc. 1 (ECF No. 5). 19 Plaintiff filed its complaint on September 5, 2024. (ECF No. 1.) Since then, 20 Plaintiff has attempted to serve Defendant at its registered agent’s address six different 21 times during September 2024, but was unsuccessful. Pl. Mot. (ECF No. 50-1 at 5-6.) The 22 registered agent’s address was obtained through the California Secretary of State’s 23 website. Id. Plaintiff states that it believes it already properly served Defendant under 24 Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e)(1) by complying with California Code of Civil Procedure section 25 415.20(a), but filed this motion out of an abundance of caution. Id. at 4-5. 26 27 28 This matter proceeds before the undersigned pursuant to the Court’s automated case assignment plan. Local Rule, Appendix A, subsection (m); see 28 U.S.C. § 636, Fed. R. Civ. P. 72, Local Rule 302(c). 1 1 1 Plaintiff has shown sufficient good cause for an extension of the deadline for 2 service pursuant to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m). In addition, Plaintiff has shown 3 that it has, with reasonable diligence, exhausted its other options for service pursuant to 4 California Corporations Code § 1702(a). See Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(h) (corporation may be 5 served in federal judicial district in manner for serving individual as provided by Rule 6 4(e)(1)); id. 4(e)(1) (individual may be served by following state law provisions for serving 7 summons in state court); Cal. Corp. Code § 1702(a) (allowing service through Secretary 8 of State upon reasonable exhaustion of other provisions). 9 IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion (ECF No. 5) to permit 10 alternate service and for an extension of time to serve Defendant through the California 11 Secretary of State is GRANTED. Plaintiff is directed to serve Defendant through the 12 California Secretary of State within thirty days of this order’s issuance. 13 14 Dated: January 28, 2025 15 16 17 5, stra.2414.24 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2

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