GS Holistic, LLC v. Abbasi
- Jacquelyn Corley
- 3:23-cv-05571
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 6
In GS Holistic v. Abbasi, Judge Corley denied default judgment without prejudice because service of process was not adequately shown.
GS Holistic, LLC must address the service problem before seeking default judgment again, while Athar Abbasi and 420 Smoke Palace did not receive a default judgment against them in this order. The court continued GS Holistic’s service deadline for 30 days and required proof of service by August 22, 2024.
What happened
GS Holistic, LLC v. Abbasi involves claims by GS Holistic against Athar Abbasi and 420 Smoke Palace for trademark infringement and falsely identifying the source of goods. The defendants did not appear, and the Clerk entered default against them.
GS Holistic asked the court to enter default judgment. The court questioned whether the summons and complaint had been properly served. GS Holistic relied on service by leaving the documents with Rahida Abbasi at a home address after two attempts at personal service.
Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley denied the motion for default judgment without prejudice because GS Holistic did not provide enough facts showing that the service complied with the applicable rules. The court continued GS Holistic’s service deadline for 30 days and required proof of service by August 22, 2024.
The detailed version
- GS Holistic, LLC v. Abbasi · No. 3:23-cv-05571
- Jacquelyn Corley
- July 18, 2024
Background
GS Holistic, LLC sued Athar Abbasi individually and Athar Abbasi doing business as 420 Smoke Palace. The complaint alleged trademark infringement and false designation of origin. The defendants did not appear, and the Clerk entered default against each of them. GS Holistic then moved for default judgment.
Before deciding whether to enter default judgment, the court required GS Holistic to show that it had properly served the summons and complaint. GS Holistic argued that service was proper under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e)(2)(B), and asked for permission to serve the defendants again if the court found the original service defective.
Service on Athar Abbasi
The proof of service stated that the documents were left with “Rahida Abbasi—Occupant/Accepting Service” at 49006 Feather Grass Ter, Fremont, California, after two attempts at personal service. Under the federal and California rules discussed by the court, substitute service at a home generally requires leaving the documents with a competent household member who is at least 18 years old and informing that person of the general nature of the papers.
The court found that the proof of service did not include facts explaining why Rahida Abbasi was a competent household member, was at least 18 years old, or was at the defendants’ dwelling or usual place of abode. The court therefore concluded that GS Holistic had not shown that substitute service on Athar Abbasi was legally sufficient.
Service on 420 Smoke Palace
GS Holistic alleged that 420 Smoke Palace was a sole proprietorship. The court explained that a sole proprietorship has no separate legal existence from its owner, so service must meet the standards for serving an individual. Because the proof of service for 420 Smoke Palace was identical to the proof of service for Athar Abbasi, the court likewise found that GS Holistic had not shown proper service on the business defendant.
Ruling
The court denied GS Holistic’s motion for default judgment without prejudice because the motion did not establish that the defendants had been properly served. The court continued GS Holistic’s deadline to serve the defendants for 30 days and required GS Holistic to file proof of service by August 22, 2024. The court also continued the case-management conference to October 17, 2024, and stated that the order disposed of Docket No. 23.
Read the full 6-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.