Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

I hope you learned not to do that again, if not for your own security! It would not be legal service if no one was home. You would have to file a motion to quash and, perhaps, attach a declaration from the buzzer company that explains, step-by-step, that the door may be open remotely, and how it's done. You would also want to provide the court with your own declaration and evidence that you were out at the time and where. Of course, if you were to show up in court on the date of the hearing, plaintiff's lawyer likely will serve you at that time.

Eventually, you will be served so you might think twice about fighting over service. It also will annoy plaintiff, who then might not be willing to negotiate with you.

Mr Cohen is correct that fighting service under these circumstances is a waste of time. You can bring a motion to quash service and possibly win, after spending alot of time and money doing so. If you win, the plaintiff will simply serve you again. Unless you are planning to leave the state for a few years, it is a losing battle.

Not legal service, but filing a motion to challenge service will cost you money and only result in delay. You are better off finding a way to fight the actual lawsuit itself, rather than the sloppy manner in which is was served.

Worst case, they'll hand you another summons when you show up at the hearing on the motion to quash. Total waste of time. Deal with the lawsuit. If you need more time to file an answer, you have some good leverage with the plaintiff's attorney, but that is about all you get for this defective service. The only time a motion to quash makes any sense is if you didn't actually get the summons and they took a default.