Legal Question in Consumer Law in California

Service by Mail

Is an attorney considered, or not considered, a third party, as necessitated by the requirements of an adult over 18 years of age who is not a party to the action, as is required to serve documents (such as an amended compliant or interrogatories) by mail service?

Additionally, what if this attorney is an employee (in legal department) of the Plaintiff? Does this not make the attorney a party to the action?

Do you know of the actual California Code of Civil Procedure which defines who is or who is not a ''party to the action?''

Thank you.


Asked on 4/12/08, 6:57 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys
Benjamin Berger Berger-Harrison, A Professional Corporation

Re: Service by Mail

An attorney is generally NOT a party. However, when the attorney is an employee of a party, he may be necessarily acting in his capacity as an employee when he serves documents and, in that case, his actions would be the actions of a party and service by him would probably be ineffective.

However, if the party served actually received the documents, it is probably a waste of time to address the issue. Practically speaking, the issue of WHO served documents is usually only meaningful if the party did NOT receive the documents.

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Answered on 4/12/08, 7:50 pm
Joel Selik www.SelikLaw.com

Re: Service by Mail

CCP 1013a has this requirement (as does CCP 414.10 for a summons). There is nothing specifically addressed that I could locate in cases (on a quick search) but it would be my opinion that an employee of a party, even an attorney, would be disqualified from service.

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Answered on 4/13/08, 10:03 am


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