Javelin Global Commodities Ltd v. Michael A. Blubaugh
Javelin Global Commodities (UK) Ltd v. Michael A. Blubaugh, Kingdom Coal LLC, KC II Holdings LLC, and Double Mountain Mining LLC
- Vargas
- 1:24-cv-08385
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Javelin Global Commodities v. Michael A. Blubaugh, Judge Vargas granted alternative service of a subpoena on the Garner Trust.
Javelin Global Commodities (UK) Ltd and the Garner Trust’s trustees, Phillip Pearce and Scott Haire. The order established methods for serving Javelin’s subpoena on the Garner Trust.
What happened
In Javelin Global Commodities (UK) Ltd v. Michael A. Blubaugh, Kingdom Coal LLC, KC II Holdings LLC, and Double Mountain Mining LLC, Javelin sought records from the Garner Trust to help enforce a judgment. Javelin said the trust held Michael Blubaugh’s assets.
The court found that a subpoena had to be served on one of the trust’s trustees. After unsuccessful attempts to personally serve the trustees, the court allowed Javelin to serve the subpoena in two alternative ways: by certified mail to Phillip Pearce and by email to Scott Haire.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas granted Javelin’s request for alternative service and directed that those two methods would count as proper service on the Garner Trust.
The detailed version
- Javelin Global Commodities Ltd v. Michael A. Blubaugh · No. 1:24-cv-08385
- Vargas
- Sept. 29, 2025
Background
Javelin was pursuing discovery to help enforce a judgment under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 69. It asked for permission to serve a records subpoena on the Garner Trust by email. Javelin represented that the Garner Trust held assets belonging to Michael Blubaugh.
The opinion states that Phil Pearce and Scott Haire were co-trustees of the Garner Trust. Javelin’s counsel first sent the subpoena to Blubaugh’s counsel, who responded that Blubaugh could not accept service because he was not a trustee. Javelin’s counsel later emailed Haire, who said the trust was considering lawyers. Javelin represented that it did not have a mailing address for Haire.
A process server tried three times between August 19 and 21, 2025, to serve Phillip Wayne Pearce at an address in Benbrook, Texas. The attempts were unsuccessful: twice the process server could not enter the gated community, and on the third attempt no one answered the door.
Legal standard
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45 generally requires delivering a subpoena to the named person. The court explained that service on one of the Garner Trust’s trustees was required. Courts may, in appropriate circumstances, permit alternative service—such as email or certified mail—when the proposed method gives timely actual notice. Courts generally require a diligent attempt at personal service before allowing an alternative method.
Ruling
The court found that Javelin had shown sufficient diligence in trying to serve Haire or Pearce. It also found that emailing the address Haire had used to communicate with Javelin’s counsel would provide sufficient notice.
The court therefore granted Javelin’s request for alternative service. It directed that the following methods would be proper service of the subpoena on the Garner Trust:
1. Sending a copy of the subpoena by certified mail to Mr. Phillip Pearce at 5921 River Bend Drive, Benbrook, Texas 76132; and 2. Emailing the subpoena to Mr. Scott Haire at shaire4104@gmail.com.
The Clerk of Court was directed to terminate ECF No. 39.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.