{"id":2276,"date":"2018-04-08T13:06:57","date_gmt":"2018-04-08T21:06:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trainingpips.com\/?page_id=2276"},"modified":"2019-04-18T03:09:28","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T11:09:28","slug":"ps-102-chapter-10-article-1-who-may-serve-brown-edwards-vs-powell","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/ps-102-a-course-outline\/ps-102-understanding-case-summaries\/ps-102-chapter-10-an-introduction-to-who-may-serve-case-law\/ps-102-chapter-10-article-1-who-may-serve-brown-edwards-vs-powell\/","title":{"rendered":"PS 102 – Chapter 10 – Article 1 – Who May Serve – Brown-Edwards vs Powell"},"content":{"rendered":"

SUMMARY
\n<\/strong>144 Wn. App. 109, Brown-Edwards v. Powell
\n<\/strong>[No. 26028-3-III. Division Three. April 17, 2008.]
\n<\/strong>ELLEN BROWN-EDWARDS, Respondent, v. JAMES POWELL ET AL<\/a>., Petitioners.
\n<\/strong>BROWN, J., dissents by separate opinion.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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

A car driven by James Powell collided with a car driven by Ellen Brown-Edwards. Ms. Brown-Edwards sued Mr. Powell and his wife, Shirley Powell, for injuries she claimed from the accident. Ms. Brown-Edwards hired a process server to serve the summons and complaint<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The process server served the Powells’ neighbor, Shirley Vertrees. The process server asked Ms. Vertrees if she was “Shirley.” She said yes. He then handed her a copy of the summons and complaint<\/a> and said: “Consider yourself served.” Ms. Vertrees noticed that the papers were for her neighbor, Ms. Powell, and delivered them to her. She later signed an affidavit<\/a>. She swore that she was competent to serve the papers and that she had served them.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Powells moved to dismiss for insufficient service of process. The court denied their motion<\/a>. The court concluded that Ms. Vertrees effected service of process when she handed the papers to the Powells and granted discretionary review of the court’s refusal to dismiss this suit for insufficiency of service.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

    \n
  1. May<\/a> any person<\/a> who fits the definition of a process server effectively serve documents such that the court acquires jurisdiction<\/a>? Yes<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Must a proof of service be signed by the process server in order to effect service? Yes<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Must the process server have a contractual agreement with the party<\/a> in order to effect service? No<\/strong><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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

    The hired process server left the document’s with a neighbor, whom by chance shared the same first name as one of the defendants.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ms. Vertrees delivered the papers to the defendants by personally handing them to Ms. Powell (co-defendant<\/a>, wife, resident).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ms. Vertrees signed a sworn declaration<\/a> attesting to her ability to serve these documents and to the actual service.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

    A process server is defined as any person<\/a> who is (1) over 18 years old, (2) competent to be a witness, and (3) not a party<\/a> to the action<\/a> may<\/a> serve process.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Ms. Vertrees certainly met the criteria for a process server. Nothing in the rule requires that a process server have a contractual obligation to serve process. Nor is there any requirement of proof of intent<\/a> to serve process. The court found nothing that would prohibit a person<\/a> who comes into possession of a summons and complaint<\/a> by defective service from being a competent process server. The rule prohibits only a party<\/a> to the action<\/a> from serving process. The court concluded then that Ms. Vertrees was a competent process server.<\/span><\/p>\n

    “Service made in the modes provided in this section shall be taken and held to be personal service<\/a>.” Service thus constitutes personal service<\/a> when (1) a copy of the summons is delivered to the defendant<\/a> personally, and (2) a copy of the summons is left at the defendant<\/a>’s house of usual abode with a person<\/a> of suitable age and discretion who lives at the house at the time of service. Here, Ms. Vertrees, as process server, personally delivered the copy of the summons and complaint<\/a> she received to Ms. Powell, a named defendant<\/a>. That is adequate personal service<\/a> on Ms. Powell.<\/span><\/p>\n

    In summary, Ms. Vertrees properly served Mr. Powell, a named defendant<\/a> in this case<\/a>, by substitute service when she left the summons at Mr. Powell’s house with his wife, Ms. Powell, who was undisputedly of suitable age and discretion and living at the house at the time of service.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

    While this could be considered a case<\/a> of mistaken identity; it is actually a case<\/a> of lack of attention to detail. Had the server been paying attention he would have realized that he was at the wrong house and that the Shirley he was serving had the wrong last name. As process servers, we are constantly dealing with names and numbers and it is up to us to ensure that we have all of these things correct. Always take that extra moment to ensure that you are on the right road, at the right house and are talking to the right person<\/a>. This particular process server was extremely lucky in the way the case<\/a> turned out.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    SUMMARY 144 Wn. App. 109, Brown-Edwards v. Powell [No. 26028-3-III. Division Three. April 17, 2008.] ELLEN BROWN-EDWARDS, Respondent, v. JAMES POWELL ET AL<\/a>., Petitioners. BROWN, J., dissents by separate opinion. Facts A car driven by James Powell collided with a car driven by Ellen Brown-Edwards. Ms. Brown-Edwards sued Mr. Powell and his wife, Shirley Powell, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":2274,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2276","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2276","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=2276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2276\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}