Whittle v. Marley et al

Filing 17

ORDER FOR SUBSTITUTED SERVICE ON DEFENDANT MARLEY COFFEEESTATE LIMITED re 11 , by Judge Richard P. Matsch on 11/17/2014.(jsmit)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLORADO
Senior Judge Richard P. Matsch
Civil Action No. 14-cv-02680-RPM
SHANE WITTLE, individually and derivatively on behalf of
MARLEY COFFEE LLC,
Plaintiffs,
v.
ROHAN MARLEY,
CEDELLA MARLEY,
JAMMIN’ JAVA CORPORATION,
HOPE ROAD MERCHANDISING, LLC,
FIFTY-SIX HOPE ROAD MUSIC LIMITED,
MARLEY COFFEE ESTATE LIMITED,
Defendants.

ORDER FOR SUBSTITUTED SERVICE ON DEFENDANT MARLEY COFFEE
ESTATE LIMITED

Plaintiff Shane Wittle seeks an order for substituted service on Defendant Marley Coffee
Estate Limited (“Marley Coffee”) pursuant to Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f). Marley
Coffee is a Jamaican limited liability company. According to Plaintiff, Balram Vaswani is
Marley Coffee’s CEO and managing member and operates the company out of his
condominium at 1555 Blake Street, Unit 704, in Denver, Colorado.
Consistent with Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e), Plaintiff attempted to serve
Marley Coffee with process in this civil action by serving it upon Vaswani. Plaintiff has
submitted an affidavit of non-service from Timothy Cunningham, who states that he
attempted to serve Vaswani at his condominium building on multiple occasions but building

security would not allow Cunningham up to Vaswani’s unit. [Doc. 11, Ex. B.] Cunningham
further states that he staked out the condominium building in an attempt to serve Vaswani as
he was coming or going from the building. [Id.] That approach was also unsuccessful.
The Court is satisfied that Plaintiff has used due diligence to attempt personal service
under Rule 4(e) and that further attempts to personally serve Defendant Marley Coffee would
be to no avail. The Court believes that Plaintiff’s proposed manner of substituted service is
appropriate under the circumstances and reasonably calculated to give actual notice to
Defendant Marley Coffee. It is therefore
ORDERED that Plaintiff may effect service upon Defendant Marley Coffee by sending
via Registered United States Mail a copy of the Complaint and Jury Demand, along with the
Civil Cover Sheet, Summons, and this Order of Substituted Service to Balram Vaswani at
1555 Blake Street, Unit 704, Denver, CO 80202; and by serving the materials upon building
security in the lobby of Vaswani’s condominium building for delivery to Vaswani at Unit
704.
Dated: November 17, 2014.
BY THE COURT:

s/Richard P. Matsch
_____________________
Richard P. Matsch
Senior Judge