{"id":2251,"date":"2018-04-07T19:26:34","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T03:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trainingpips.com\/?page_id=2251"},"modified":"2019-04-18T03:18:22","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T11:18:22","slug":"ps-102-chapter-6-article-4-evasion-of-service-united-pacific-insurance-vs-discount-company","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/ps-102-a-course-outline\/ps-102-understanding-case-summaries\/ps-102-chapter-6-an-introduction-to-evasion-of-service-case-law\/ps-102-chapter-6-article-4-evasion-of-service-united-pacific-insurance-vs-discount-company\/","title":{"rendered":"PS 102 – Chapter 6 – Article 4 – Evasion of Service – United Pacific Insurance vs Discount Company"},"content":{"rendered":"

United Pacific Insurance Company<\/a> v. Discount Company<\/a>, et al<\/a>
\n15 Wn. App 559 (1976)<\/span><\/p>\n

Facts<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Defendant<\/a> Mrs. Phyllis L. Norelius was both the secretary of defendant<\/a> Discount Company<\/a> and the wife of defendant<\/a> Richard R. Norelius. Plaintiff’s process server approached the usual abode of defendants Norelius in order to serve the summons and complaint<\/a>. An adult woman opened the front door. When asked if she was Mrs. Norelius, she said “yes.” The process server asked if Richard Norelius was in and she said he was out of town. The process server asked her again if she was “Phyllis, his wife?” When the woman did not respond the process server held the papers out and told her he had some legal<\/a> papers for her. At that point the woman slammed the door, knocking the papers from his hand.<\/span><\/p>\n

Judicial<\/a> History<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Default judgment<\/a> was entered against Defendants. Defendants moved to vacate the judgment<\/a> based on insufficient service upon the corporation<\/a> and the marital community. The court entered an order vacating only a portion of the judgment<\/a>. Defendants appealed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Specific Issue<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Can a person<\/a> avoid service of legal<\/a> process by not accepting the documents when presented thereto? No<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Holding<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    All defendants were validly served with summons and complaint<\/a>. The summons and complaint<\/a> need not actually be placed in the defendant<\/a>’s hand for “delivery” to occur and for service to be effected.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Reasoning<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

    The facts demonstrate a clear attempt by the process server to yield possession and control of the documents to defendant<\/a>. Normal “delivery” thereof would have been effected upon defendant<\/a> except for her obvious attempt to evade service by slamming the door after the papers were held out to her.<\/span><\/p>\n

    C4PSE Comment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    This case<\/a> clearly demonstrates the concept that service is a matter of presentation and not of acceptance. Once the documents are presented in such a manner that the rules of service are satisfied then the service is valid regardless of whether or not the servee accepts the papers.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    United Pacific Insurance Company<\/a> v. Discount Company<\/a>, et al<\/a> 15 Wn. App 559 (1976) Facts Defendant<\/a> Mrs. Phyllis L. Norelius was both the secretary of defendant<\/a> Discount Company<\/a> and the wife of defendant<\/a> Richard R. Norelius. Plaintiff’s process server approached the usual abode of defendants Norelius in order to serve the summons and complaint<\/a>. An […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":2243,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2251","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2251\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}