Legal Question in Insurance Law in California

I have a insurance denial case with Progressive Insurance. I have a LDA, Process server, and Court Call for this matter. Although, I would like to know first:

Q. Is there another component to this matter to authenticate the court case and have a hearing?

Q. What are the forms I require to complete this court case?

Q. Progressive Insurance corporate headquarters are located in Mayfield, Ohio; how do I process serve the forms or service summon/sue if I'm in California, and started my policy online in California and insured a property in California?

Q. Will this court case work if I live in California and Progressive Insurance headquarters is in Ohio?

Q. What do I need to make this court case official and gain a judgement based on the location of myself the Plaintiff: California and vice versa the Defendant: Ohio?

Q. How do I sue Progressive from California, when they are located in Ohio?


Asked on 8/04/16, 2:39 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

1. Cases don't have "components." I have no idea what "components" you are asking about. Cases are also not "authenticated." From the perspective of a lawsuit this question makes no sense.

2. Forms are not required to complete a case, although they may be used in the course of a case. Each form is for a specific purpose that may or may not have anything to do with any particular case. Also, in an average insurance case anywhere from 50-95% of the papers that will need to be prepared and filed and/or served on the opposition are not forms and there are no forms for the purpose. The papers must be written up for the particular purpose.

3. If Progressive is properly licensed to do business in California, they will have registered with the California Secretary of State and appointed an agent for service of process in California. Most likely they will be using one of the businesses that exist solely to be the agent for service of process for large companies. Most of them are in the L.A. area. Whoever they are using will be listed with the Secretary of State. Your process server just personally serves the agent and the service is effective as if you had served the president of the company personally while visiting California.

4. "Work" is a subjective term. By registering to do business in California, a company agrees to be subject to the jurisdiction of the courts of this state. That does not, however, necessarily mean the jurisdiction is proper for any particular case. Most likely, since you the insured, and the property loss are in California, jurisdiction here will be appropriate. Check your policy though. You may have agreed to have jurisdiction only in Ohio or even some other state, when you accepted the policy. There may be other reasons Progressive would challenge jurisdiction too. Only a lawyer could analyze every angle and tell you whether you can require Progressive to defend a lawsuit filed here.

5. Again, you have asked a question that makes no sense in terms of the law and lawsuits. You don't make a court case "official." What you need to do to gain a judgment is everything that needs to be done in an entire lawsuit, and you have to do it with a winning case based on admissible evidence. There are large multi-volume books you would have to read in order to fully answer that question.

6. If jurisdiction in California is proper (which is likely but by no means certain) you file a complaint in California Superior Court, Alameda County based on your zip code, have a summons issued, and then have a process server personally serve the agent for service of process in California that Progressive has designated in its Secretary of State filings.

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Answered on 8/04/16, 4:52 pm


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