Mark Douglas Kimball, P.S. v. Vuppalapati et al

Filing 7

MINUTE ORDER denying without prejudice Plaintiff's 6 Motion for Leave to Serve Defendants via E-mail, authorized by Judge Thomas S. Zilly. (SWT)

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON
AT SEATTLE

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MARK DOUGLAS KIMBALL, P.S.,

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Plaintiff,
C17-635 TSZ

v.
MADHAVI VUPPALAPATI and
ANANDHAN JAGARAMAN,

MINUTE ORDER

Defendants.
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The following Minute Order is made by direction of the Court, the Honorable
Thomas S. Zilly, United States District Judge:

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(1)
Plaintiff’s motion for leave to serve defendants via e-mail, docket no. 6, is
DENIED without prejudice. In the motion, plaintiff indicates that defendants’ current
whereabouts are unknown, but plaintiff has attempted service at the last known address in
the United States, at an address for a related company in the United Kingdom, and via the
Ministry of Law and Justice in India, pursuant to the Convention on the Service Abroad
of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents (the “Hague Convention”). Whether plaintiff
will succeed in serving defendants in India is still unknown. Moreover, because plaintiff
cannot indicate which country defendants inhabit, plaintiff has not made the requisite
representation that any such country is a signatory to the Hague Convention and that any
such country allows or does not object to service via e-mail. Plaintiff is encouraged to
use defendants’ e-mail addresses to obtain waivers of service, see Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(d)(1),
or additional information that may be used to effect personal service.

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(2)
19 record.
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The Clerk is directed to send a copy of this Minute Order to all counsel of

Dated this 28th day of August, 2017.

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William M. McCool
Clerk

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s/Karen Dews
Deputy Clerk

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MINUTE ORDER - 1