Akinmulero v. United States Attorney General

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE 7 OLASEBIKAN N. AKINMULERO, 8 NO. C20-1135RSL Plaintiff, 9 v. ORDER 10 DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND 11 SECURITY, et al., 12 Defendants. 13 14 15 This matter comes before the Court on plaintiff’s “Motion for Clarification of April 27, 16 2021, Order Denying Motion for Default Judgment.” Dkt. # 33. Plaintiff inquires whether 17 statements in a certificate of service constitute evidence of service. Yes, in the circumstances 18 presented here, the certificate of service is sufficient. “The rule is well settled that proof that a 19 letter properly directed was placed in a post office creates a presumption that it reached its 20 21 destination in usual time and was actually received by the person to whom it was addressed.” 22 Hagner v. U.S., 285 U.S. 427, 430 (1932). An employee of the United States Attorney’s Office 23 certified that she mailed a copy of defendant’s answer to plaintiff at his address on January 29, 24 2020. Dkt. # 23 at 4. That certificate is evidence of service, giving rise to a presumption of 25 receipt that has not been rebutted. Plaintiff is not entitled to a default judgment. 26 27 1 Dated this 2nd day of June, 2021. 2 3 Robert S. Lasnik United States District Judge 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27