JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. SFR Investments Pool 1, LLC et al
Filing
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ORDER Granting in part Plaintiff's 10 Motion to Extend Deadline to Effectuate Service. The deadline to serve Defendants is extended by 60 days. Plaintiff's 9 Motion for Service by Publication is Denied without prejudice. Signed by Magistrate Judge Nancy J. Koppe on 5/10/2017. (Copies have been distributed pursuant to the NEF - SLD)
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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
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DISTRICT OF NEVADA
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JPMORGAN CHASE BANK, N.A.,
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Plaintiff(s),
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v.
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SFR INVESTMENTS POOL 1, LLC, et al.,
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Defendant(s).
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Case No. 2:17-cv-00329-JCM-NJK
ORDER
(Docket Nos. 9, 10)
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Pending before the Court are Plaintiff’s motions for an extension of time to serve Aaron M.
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Nanez and Nicole Verheryen (“Defendants”) and for leave to serve them by publication. Docket Nos.
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9, 10. The motions are properly resolved without a hearing. See Local Rule 78-1. For the reasons
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discussed below, the motion to extend is GRANTED in part and the motion to serve by publication
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is DENIED without prejudice.
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I.
Motion to Extend Time for Service
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Plaintiff seeks a 90-day extension to effectuate service. Docket No. 10. Where good cause is
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shown, the time for serving the complaint is extended for an appropriate period. See Fed. R. Civ. P.
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4(m). While the motion establishes sufficient cause to extend the time for effectuating service, the Court
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finds insufficient cause to double the service period as requested. Instead, the Court will extend the
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service by period by 60 days.
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II.
Motion for Leave to Serve by Publication
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Plaintiff also seeks leave to serve Defendants by publication. Service by publication implicates
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a defendant’s fundamental due process rights. See, e.g., Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co.,
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339 U.S. 306, 314-15 (1950); Price v. Dunn, 787 P.2d 785, 787 (Nev. 1990). As a result, service by
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publication is generally disfavored. See, e.g., Trustees of the Nev. Resort Assoc.–Int’l Alliance of
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Theatrical Stage Employees & Moving Picture Machine Operators v. Alumifax, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist.
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Lexis. 106456, *2 (D. Nev. July 29, 2013).
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The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provide for service within the United States pursuant to
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the law of the state in which the district court is located, or in which service is made. See, e.g., Fed. R.
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Civ. P. 4(e)(1). Pursuant to Rule 4 of the Nevada Rules of Civil Procedure, parties are generally
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required to personally serve summons and the complaint upon defendants. Nevada law also permits a
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party to obtain leave for service by publication when the opposing party, inter alia “cannot, after due
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diligence be found within the state, or by concealment seeks to avoid the service of summons.” Nev.
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R. Civ. P. 4(e)(1). There are several factors courts consider to evaluate a party’s due diligence, including
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the number of attempts made to serve the defendant at his residence and other methods of locating
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defendants, such as consulting public directories and family members. See Price, 787 P.2d at 786-87;
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Abreu v. Gilmer, 985 P.2d 746, 747 (Nev. 1999); McNair v. Rivera, 874 P.2d 1240, 1241 (Nev. 1994).
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In this case, Plaintiff attempted to serve Defendants at two addresses identified through “various
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databases of public information to which [its law firm] has access.” Docket No. 9-1 at ¶ 3.1 In essence,
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Plaintiff has attempted to locate Defendants’ address only through “databases of public information.”
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The Court finds that to be insufficient diligence to justify service by publication. Plaintiff has not
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explained why it believes additional attempts to locate Defendants, such as through conducting a skip
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trace, would prove unsuccessful. Plaintiff also appears to have limited its search to Nevada addresses,
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Counsel’s declaration attests to attempted service on Ms. Verheyen on Cockatiel Drive. Docket
No. 9-1 at ¶ 4(b). The attached affidavits by the process server do not reflect any such attempted service,
however, and instead only reflect attempted service on Pebble Beach Road. See Docket No. 9-1 at 5-6. For
purposes of this motion, the Court assumes a service attempt was made at Cockatiel Drive. In any renewed
motion, however, counsel shall submit appropriate paperwork for each service attempt.
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see Docket No. 9 at 7 (“there is no other known potential residence for the Defendants in the State of
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Nevada”), without any explanation as to why it is not required to attempt to locate Defendants outside
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the state. Cf. Bank of N.Y. Mellon v. Seven Hills Master Cmty. Assoc., 2016 U.S. Dist. Lexis 144077,
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at *3 (D. Nev. Oct. 18, 2016) (denying without prejudice motion for service by publication since, inter
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alia, it failed to explain whether or how the movant attempted to serve the defendant in Lebanon).
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III.
Conclusion
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For the reasons discussed above, the Court GRANTS in part the motion to extend the deadline
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to effectuate service. The deadline to serve Defendants is extended by 60 days. The Court DENIES
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without prejudice the motion to serve Defendants by publication. If Plaintiff is unable to serve
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Defendants by the extended deadline, it may file a renewed motion for service by publication explaining
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the additional steps that have been taken to locate and serve Defendants.
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IT IS SO ORDERED.
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DATED: May 10, 2017
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______________________________________
NANCY J. KOPPE
United States Magistrate Judge
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