Abadi v. United Airlines, Inc.

Background

Pro se plaintiff Aaron Abadi moved under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(d)(2) for an order requiring defendant Emirates to reimburse him $75 for the cost of serving Emirates with process. Abadi sent waiver requests by email on April 1 and April 6, 2025, to attorneys at Clyde & Co. and to general Emirates email addresses. He did not mail the request to Emirates’ published New York City service address. He later retained a process server on April 18 and served Emirates at its New York office on April 22, 21 days after his first email.

Emirates argued that Rule 4(d) might not apply because it is allegedly an agency or instrumentality of a foreign state and therefore might have to be served under a different federal statute. The court assumed, without deciding, that Emirates was subject to Rule 4(d).

Court’s Analysis

Rule 4(d) generally encourages a defendant to waive formal service. If a plaintiff substantially complies with the rule and the defendant does not waive service, Rule 4(d)(2) can require the defendant to pay the service expenses. The court concluded that Abadi did not substantially comply with the rule’s requirements.

First, the waiver request had to be delivered to an officer, managing or general agent, or another agent authorized to receive service of process. The court found that the attorneys and general email addresses Abadi used did not satisfy that requirement. The court rejected Abadi’s argument that a law firm’s statement that it lacked authority to waive service showed that Emirates had refused to waive service.

Second, Abadi had to include a prepaid means for returning the waiver form. The court found that he did not do so and rejected his argument that email should be treated as an understood, cost-free method of return because his emails did not state that arrangement.

Third, Abadi had to give Emirates at least 30 days after a compliant request to return the waiver. Because his request was not substantially compliant, the court concluded that the 30-day period had not properly begun. In any event, Abadi arranged service after only 21 days, depriving Emirates of the full time allowed by the rule.

Disposition

The court denied Abadi’s motion for reimbursement of service costs. Judge Barbara Moses did not decide whether Emirates was an instrumentality of a foreign state or otherwise determine the merits of the underlying lawsuit.

Effect

The ruling means that Abadi was not awarded reimbursement of the $75 service expense through this motion. The opinion does not state that the underlying claims against United Airlines, Emirates, or any other defendant were resolved.