Social Positioning Input Systems v. Geozilla Inc.
- Haywood Gilliam
- 4:21-cv-07073
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 2
In Social Positioning Input Systems v. Geozilla, Judge Gilliam granted substitute service after personal-service attempts failed despite reasonable diligence.
Social Positioning Input Systems LLC was permitted to use substitute service to serve Geozilla Inc. in the patent-infringement lawsuit.
What happened
Social Positioning Input Systems sued Geozilla Inc. in a patent-infringement case and asked the court for permission to use substitute service.
The court found that the plaintiff had made reasonable efforts to serve Geozilla personally. The plaintiff tried to serve Geozilla twice, including once at an address recently listed with California’s Secretary of State, but learned that Geozilla had moved.
Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. granted the motion and directed the plaintiff to complete substitute service under California Corporations Code section 1702.
The detailed version
- Social Positioning Input Systems v. Geozilla Inc. · No. 4:21-cv-07073
- Haywood Gilliam
- Dec. 13, 2021
Background
Social Positioning Input Systems LLC filed a patent-infringement lawsuit against Geozilla Inc. on September 13, 2021. The pending request was the plaintiff’s motion for substitute service, which asks the court to allow service of the lawsuit through an alternative method when personal service cannot be completed.
Legal standard
The court explained that Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(e)(1) permits service under the law of the state where the federal court is located or where service occurs. Under California law, substitute service may be used when the plaintiff has acted with “reasonable diligence” but cannot complete personal service. For a corporation, California Corporations Code section 1702 allows service through the Secretary of State when the corporation’s designated agent cannot be found with reasonable diligence and personal service on that agent cannot be completed with reasonable diligence.
Court’s analysis
The court found that Social Positioning Input Systems exercised reasonable diligence. The plaintiff first attempted service on September 13, 2021, at Geozilla’s address on file with the California Secretary of State. That address had been verified on March 1, 2021, in a Secretary of State filing stating that there had been no change. The plaintiff made a second attempt on October 13, 2021, at another location, but was told that Geozilla had also moved from that office.
Based on these multiple attempts, including one at an address verified six months earlier, the court concluded that the plaintiff had acted with reasonable diligence but still could not personally serve Geozilla.
Disposition
The court GRANTED Social Positioning Input Systems’ motion for substitute service and DIRECTED the plaintiff to carry out substitute service in accordance with California Corporations Code section 1702.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.