Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California
First let me thank you all so much for reading this message and for being a part of this community.
I am suing a person in his official capacity as an officer of a public agency. The caption is to the effect of MY NAME vs. JOHN DOE in his official capacity as the Administrator of Public Agency.
On the summons it says "you are being served as" and then has several options. They are: "1. as an individual defendant; 2. as the person sued under a fictitious name of...;3. on behalf of (corporation / defunct corporation / association or partnership / minor / conservatee / authorized person / Other (specify)"
I think out of all of these options, "individual defendant" seems like the most reasonable even though it's in his official capacity. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks again!
2 Answers from Attorneys
We appreciate your kind thank you in the beginning of the question.
It seems that you should be suing the agency and the public entity that it is part of, along with John Doe as Adm. of ...Since you are going after a public entity you may have to had to file a claim with them within 180 days of the incident. If you think John Doe may have acted beyond his authority, then you need to sue him as an individual and he would be served as an individual. But if he is just being named as the head of the agency, then he would be served on behalf of . Do not worry to much, as the courts usually are fairly liberal as to whether you used the right technical name or not.
I hope you filed a claim first. This is a fundamental prerequisite to filing a lawsuit, unless you meet one of a few exceptions.
If you have a beef with the public agency, you need to name the public entity/ agency, not the individual who is the administrator.
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