Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

It can be served by certified, return receipt mail upon the president/CEO or other named executive of the corporation, or its registered agent for service of process in California.

You can look up the registered agent for the corporation, if they have one, at the California Secretary of State web site (ss.ca.gov). Most big corporations use CT Services located in downtown Los Angeles.

You should have talked to the small claims advisor before filing. Most attorneys in California don't know that California's long arm jurisdiction is severely limited in small claims cases. That's because small claims defendants don't have the procedural safeguard to challenge personal jurisdiction in the small claims venue, and the amount being recovered is often small compared to the costs of having to travel to California to defend.

Service of a claim and order on a defendant in a California small claims action must be made in this state, unless one of two exceptions apply: 1) the owner of record of real property in California who resides in another state and who has no agent in California for service may be served out of state if the claim relates to that real property OR 2) a nonresident owner or operator of a motor vehicle involved in an accident in California may be served by constructive service. (Code of Civ. Proc., sect. 116.340 subd. (e)(f)(g).)