Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

Re:

In order for the Court to uphold legal service the party serving must do one of the following. The serving party must have a third party, one not a plaintiff or defendant in the action, either personally serve the party in person, by leaving a copy at the parties place of business and then mailing a copy by certified register receipt. Service at a residence where you no longer reside is not proper service, however I would check with the Court to see if the party trying to serve you has filed a proof of service. If so, you will have to either file an answer within thirty days of the date of service or wait for a default judgment to be entered against you to defend the service in Court. In order to protect yourself, I would recommend that you file an answer to the Complaint immediately. This is a lot cheaper than hiring an attorney to set aside a default judgment. If you need help filing an answer with the court please feel free to contact my office for a free, no obligation consultation. My toll free number is 877-546-9918. You may contact me by phone or email. Good luck.

Sincerely,

John Hayes, Esq.

Re: Service of Summons

If the address is no longer a valid address then service is not proper. However, since the plaintiff's attorney apparently does not know that the address is incorrect they will probably file a default against you and obtain a judgment.

You will then be in the position of having to make a motion to the court to set aside the judgment for defective service. It will leave you in a relatively poor position having to prove that you were not properly served. If you lose that motion you've lost the case.

Thus, since you now know about the lawsuit (and depending upon the merits of your case) you may want to contact the attorney for the plaintiff and inform him/her of the improper service.

Contact me if you would like to discuss this or want legal representation.

J. Caleb Donner

805-494-6557

www.donnerlaw.com

[email protected]