Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
In a case my wife lost in a small claim court, the plaintiff
submitted two copies of "proof of service" in order to collect extra
$55 court fee which he did not deserve. The first proof of service
has my home address as service location but in the second proof of
service, the service location is 50 miles away, but the service time
shown in the document is exactly the same as that in the first copy.
The second one is apparently a forged document as the server could
not show up in two places 50 miles apart at the same time. I wonder
if there is any legal action I can take against the plaintiff's
fraud like this.
2 Answers from Attorneys
If your wife was a party and you weren't, then you can't do anything. Your wife may have the option of appealing if there is still time, though if all she's fighting over is the extra $55, an appeal probably isn't worthwhile.
It's far from clear that the plaintiffs committed fraud as you claim. You don't deny that your wife was properly served, and you don't even deny that she was served at both locations. All you dispute seems to be the time listed on one of the proofs of service. That could easily be an honest mistake, and honest mistakes are not fraud. I see no reason why someone would deliberately write the incorrect time if the service was actually carried out.
Even if this was deliberate, it's not clear that your wife is any worse off as a result. If she really was served at both locations, then the plaintiffs were entitled to recover the associated costs. Writing the wrong time on one of the documents does not change this fact.
Bear in mind that, if your wife was served at only one location, all she lost as a result of the falsified document is $55. As I said at the start, that probably isn't enough to justify an appeal.
Finally, even if the process server really did perjure himself on the proof of service, the plaintiffs are probably not liable for that fraud. They would not be entitled to reimbursement of the $55 fee, but they probably are not liable for any additional harm your wife suffered as a result.
[One caveat: Because I don't know as much about the case as I would like, my answer says "probably" several times. It's possible that I would see things differently if I had more information.]