Judge Douglas W. Stern, Case Number: 22STCV36517, Date: 2023-08-11 Tentative Ruling

Alida Thomas vs. Dalia Motor Group, Inc., et al., Case No. 22STCV36517

Moving Party: Plaintiff Alida Thomas

This action arises out of Defendant Johnson Ford dba Antelope Valley Ford Lincoln (Defendant) failing to provide vehicle title and California vehicle registration to Plaintiff after Plaintiff purchased a vehicle from Defendant.

On May 29, 2023, and again on May 30, 2023, Plaintiff attempted to serve Defendant via Defendant’s Registered Agent for Service address. At that time, the process server spoke with someone who told them that Defendant is no longer the owner of that location. The same address where Plaintiff attempted to serve Defendant’s registered agent is also listed with the Secretary of State as Defendant’s principal address and mailing address. (Motion at pp. 4-5.) This address was also listed for Defendant on Yelp. Plaintiff has no other addresses for Defendant.

As a result, Plaintiff filed this motion requesting leave of the Court to serve the summons on the California Secretary of State pursuant to Corporations Code § 1702(a).

If an agent for the purpose of service of process has resigned and has not been replaced or if the agent designated cannot with reasonable diligence be found at the address designated for personally delivering the process, or if no agent has been designated, and it is shown by affidavit to the satisfaction of the court that process against a domestic corporation cannot be served with reasonable diligence upon the designated agent by hand in the manner provided in Section 415.10, subdivision (a) Section 415.30 of the Code of Civil Procedure or upon the corporation in the manner provided in subdivision (a), (b), or (c) of Section 416.10 or subdivision (a) of Section 416.20 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the court may make an order that the service be made upon the corporation by delivering by hand to the Secretary of State’s office in the capacity of assistant or deputy, one copy of the process for each defendant to be served, together with a copy of the order authorizing such service. Service in this manner is deemed complete on the 10th day after delivery of the process to the Secretary of State.

Plaintiff has made diligent efforts to find the address at which to serve Defendant and/or Defendant’s agent, but Plaintiff has been unable to do so. Because Plaintiff has been unable to personally serve Defendant, Plaintiff is requesting that the Court enter an order directing service of Plaintiff’s summons to be delivered by process on the Secretary of State. The Court finds that this is reasonable given that Plaintiff has been unable to serve Defendant at the available addresses. The Court grants Plaintiff’s motion.

Plaintiff’s motion for order authorizing substituted service on the Secretary of State is granted.