Ramos v. Baja Cali Inc.

Background

Oscar Ramos applied to serve the summons and complaint by publication on defendants Gerasimos Georgopoulos and Gerasimoula Georgopoulos. Counsel reported several unsuccessful attempts to serve them personally at an address in Yuba City, California. Process servers could not enter the gated property. An attempt to serve them by registered mail at the same address also failed because the package was returned unclaimed.

Legal standard

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 allows service under the law of the state where the federal court is located or where service is made. California law permits service by publication when the court is satisfied, based on an affidavit, that the defendant cannot be served by another authorized method with reasonable diligence and that a legal claim exists against the defendant.

Court’s analysis

The court found that the requirement concerning the existence of a legal claim was satisfied because Ramos alleged that the Georgopoulos defendants owned the real property of a business allegedly violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. The court held, however, that the declarations from counsel and the process server did not sufficiently establish reasonable diligence. In particular, the process server described searches and identified the Yuba City address as the most likely place where the Georgopoulos defendants lived, but did not state whether those searches found other possible addresses.

Ruling

Judge Joseph C. Spero denied the application without prejudice to refiling. The court stated that a renewed application should include a more detailed declaration showing that Ramos either could not identify another address for service or unsuccessfully attempted service at any alternative addresses found through the investigation. The renewed application should also identify the proposed publication and provide a declaration explaining why that publication satisfies California law.