Legal Question in Constitutional Law in California
Service on unknown entity
A defendant was an alleged judgment creditor. In October,2001,he assigned the judgment lien to a newly formed corporation. On January, 2002, my client sued the defendant to obtain senior status over the judgment lien. The defendant defaulted after publication of the Summons. Defendant recorded the Assignment of the judgment lien to the corporation in August, 2002. Defendant's default was entered Sept., 2002 and judgment was entered Feb., 2003. Corporation now sues to set aside the judgment alleging it was entitled to notice of the former lawsuit. My client resists saying he cannot give notice to someone unknown, and the Assignment was not recorded until 7 months after filing of the former lawsuit. Do you think this corporation, although unknown, was entitled to notice?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Service on unknown entity
If your client was able to persuade the judge to let him serve by publication, then he must have already made a showing that he searched dilligently and was unable to find any means to serve the defendant directly. In order to obtain relief from the default, the defendant will need to show that your client should have been able to locate it after all and that the reason he didn't was that he didn't make a reasonable effort. Whether it will win depends upon the particulars of its argument and on what your client claimed when he published the summons.
On the other hand, if your client published the summons without prior court approval, then he will lose. A plaintiff who has not proven that the defendant is too hard to find cannot serve the summons by publication; whatever the plaintiff publishes in such a case will have no legal effect.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
