Alternative Service Appropriate When Ordinary Service Fails

February 01, 2011

Blair v. Burgener, 598 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 26 (App. Div. II, December 29, 2010) (J. Vasquez)
ALTERNATIVE SERVICE OF PROCESS UPON PERSON AT FRONT DESK OF DEFENDANT'S OFFICE AND BY MAIL WHERE PROCESS SERVER MADE 5 ATTEMPTS TO SERVE DEFENDANT AT HOME AND 7 ATTEMPTS TO SERVE DEFENDANT AT OFFICE BUT WAS ALWAYS TOLD DEFENDANT WAS NOT IN

In this breach of contract, fraud and civil conspiracy action the plaintiff attempted to serve the defendant by process server. The process server made numerous attempts to serve the defendant at his home and at his office. Five times the process server attempted to serve the defendant at home no one ever answered the door. Seven times he attempted service at the office he was always told the defendant was not there. Plaintiff was then given leave by the court to serve the defendant by alternative means--serve the person "in charge" at the office and by mail with the court order. The process was then served upon a woman working at the front desk of the office who refused to give her last name or proof of identity and by mail to the business address. The defendant did not enter an appearance and the plaintiff obtained a $252,000 default judgment. Thereafter the defendant moved to set aside the default which was denied.

On appeal, the court first noted that the defendant failed to provide the court with the record of the argument on the motion to set aside and therefore concluded that record along with its own understanding of that the process server had made 12 attempts to serve process in person, met the standard under Rule 4.1(m) of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure which allows the court to order alternative service when normal service is "impractical, extremely difficult or inconvenient" and therefore valid.

Our team works together - for you!

Our award-winning lawyers are backed by a talented, caring team of legal professionals, paralegals, bilingual assistants, notaries, and others - all dedicated to you, your case, and the compensation you deserve.

No fees and no costs until we win.

As such we always have your case and your best interest in mind. When you win, we win too by providing the best legal care possible.

Thorough investigation and preparation.

We tirelessly and thoughtfully prepare every case we represent as though it was going to trial. This lets insurance companies know that we are a force to be reckoned with. As such, we settle successfully 98% of the time.