Arundar v. Staff Builders Temporary Personnel, Inc.

92 F.R.D. 770, 25 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 271, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 804, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10351
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Georgia
DecidedJanuary 4, 1982
DocketCiv. A. No. 80-1417
StatusPublished

This text of 92 F.R.D. 770 (Arundar v. Staff Builders Temporary Personnel, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arundar v. Staff Builders Temporary Personnel, Inc., 92 F.R.D. 770, 25 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 271, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 804, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10351 (N.D. Ga. 1982).

Opinion

ORDER

ORINDA D. EVANS, District Judge.

This action for overtime pay under the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 U.S.C. §§ 201 et seq., is before the Court on defendant’s motion to dismiss, Rules 12(b), 41(b), Fed.R. Civ.P., and plaintiff’s motion for amendment of service of process, Rule 4(h), Fed.R. Civ.P.

The bases of defendant’s motions are that there is no jurisdiction over defendant because there has never been proper service of process on defendant, and that plaintiff has failed to prosecute this action and to comply with the orders of this Court.

Plaintiff concedes that the person named in the complaint as defendant’s agent for service of process was actually not the proper person to serve with process. Therefore, plaintiff now seeks to amend that service of process under Rule 4(h) so that the proper agent can be served.

The Court will deal with defendant’s motion first, because if that motion is granted, plaintiff’s motion will become moot.

Defendant’s Rule 41(b) Motion

Rule 41(b) states in relevant part: “For failure of the plaintiff to prosecute or to comply with these rules or any order of court, a defendant may move for dismissal of an action or any claim against him.” There are three separate “non-actions” by plaintiff in this case which the court will consider here — plaintiff’s failure to properly serve process on defendant; plaintiff’s failure to prosecute and comply with the orders of this Court by delaying the filing of a pretrial statement; and plaintiff’s failure to answer the instant motion to dismiss.

Service of Process

This action was filed on August 18, 1980. Defendant’s answer was filed on October 7, 1980. In that answer defendant denied the allegations of the complaint as to the agent for service, and pleaded as affirmative defenses the insufficiency of service and lack of jurisdiction over defendant. Answer, ¶¶ 2, 3. Defendant’s counsel also had one or more telephone conversations with plaintiff’s attorney during the days following the filing of the answer in which the problem of the improper service of process was discussed. Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss, Exhibit B, Affidavit of John A. Sibley, III, ¶ 2. Plaintiff concedes in her motion for amendment of service of process that she mistakenly served process on the wrong person. Plaintiff’s motion was not filed until October 15, 1981, more than one year after plaintiff was placed on notice of the problem.

It is clear that an unreasonable delay in service of process may constitute a “lack of diligence”, and can support a motion to dismiss under Rule 41(b) for failure to prosecute even if the defendant cannot demonstrate any actual prejudice. Index Fund, Inc. v. Hagopian, 90 F.R.D. 574, 580 (S.D.N.Y.1981). See also Campbell v. United States, 496 F.Supp. 36, 39 (E.D.Tenn.1980); Howmet Corp. v. Tokyo Shipping Co., 318 F.Supp. 658, 661 (D.Del.1970). “Different courts, however, may reach in[772]*772consistent results when attempting to determine if a given delay is so inherently prejudicial that it requires dismissal without considering other factors.” Index Fund, supra. Compare Preston v. Mendlinger, 83 F.R.D. 198 (S.D.N.Y.1979) (two-year delay in service is not determinative standing alone; court must examine other variables), with Campbell, supra (plaintiff ordered to show cause why action should not be dismissed for failure to serve certain defendants with process within an eight- or nine-month period). Given this problem and the presence in this action of “other factors”, the Court will examine the prejudice issue and the other factors involved in this case — i.e., the other two grounds for possible dismissal — before deciding defendant’s motion.

The first fact to note is that this Court technically still lacks in personam jurisdiction over defendant because plaintiff has never properly served defendant with process. See, e.g., Attwell v. La Salle National Bank, 607 F.2d 1157, 1159 (5th Cir. 1979), cert. denied, 445 U.S. 954, 100 S.Ct. 1607, 63 L.Ed.2d 791 (1980). Plaintiffs attorney delayed for over a year after he was put on notice of the defect in service of process before he even attempted to rectify the problem. This failure to correct a fundamental flaw in the cause of action can only be attributed to neglect by plaintiff’s attorney. Consideration by a court of prejudice caused by a delay in service of process “comes into play where there has been only ‘moderate or excusable neglect.’ ” Charles Labs, Inc. v. Banner, 79 F.R.D. 55, 57 (S.D.N.Y.1978). It is questionable whether a one-year delay is “moderate.” Plaintiff has offered as an excuse “that the error in the service of process was one which originated through information conveyed to it [s/c] by the Secretary of State of Georgia regarding the registered agent for service.” Plaintiff’s Motion for Amendment of Service of Process. While that may be true, it does not explain why plaintiff’s counsel delayed over one year in attempting to remedy the error after he was put on notice of it. Because the Court finds that plaintiff’s attorney’s actions on this particular issue place him very close to the line between “moderate or excusable neglect” and “inexcusable neglect”, the Court will briefly comment on the prejudice to defendant caused by the delay in service.

Defendant in its motion has not alleged that it has suffered any specific prejudice because of plaintiff’s failure to perfect service of process. It certainly was on notice that the cause of action had been filed as evidenced by its filing of an answer and a pretrial statement. However, “[d]elay alone can infuse an adverse element into the proper flow of litigation: evidence deteriorates or disappears, memories fade, and witnesses die or move away. If the delay is unjustified, the court can and must act to redress the balance.” Veazey v. Young’s Yacht Sales & Service, Inc., 644 F.2d 475, 477-78 (5th Cir. 1981).

The Court finds that the delay in service of process here was indeed unjustified. Yet before the Court acts “to redress the balance”, it will first consider the other grounds for dismissal.

Failure to Comply with Orders of the Court

Plaintiff failed to file a pretrial statement in accordance with this Court’s orders of November 20, 1980 and March 4, 1981. The date on which said statement was due was March 29, 1981. This Court issued a •notice with regard to the call of the calendar on June 5, 1981 in which plaintiff was further directed to file pretrial statements no later than May 27,1981. Again plaintiff did not comply. By an order filed on June 24, 1981 the Court for the third time ordered plaintiff to file a pretrial statement within fifteen days or be subject to dismissal without prejudice pursuant to Rule 41(b). Instead of striking out on this third effort by the Court to have plaintiff comply with its orders, plaintiff “hit a foul tip” by filing an inadequate and incomplete pretrial statement on July 9, 1981. Finally, at a hearing on October 5, 1981 the Court ordered plaintiff’s attorney to file a complete pretrial statement by October 13, 1981 or [773]

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Related

Link v. Wabash Railroad
370 U.S. 626 (Supreme Court, 1962)
Wayne Ramsay v. James Bailey, M.D.
531 F.2d 706 (Fifth Circuit, 1976)
Howmet Corporation v. Tokyo Shipping Co.
318 F. Supp. 658 (D. Delaware, 1970)
Campbell v. United States
496 F. Supp. 36 (E.D. Tennessee, 1980)
Charles Labs, Inc. v. Banner
79 F.R.D. 55 (S.D. New York, 1978)
Preston v. Mendlinger
83 F.R.D. 198 (S.D. New York, 1979)
Index Fund, Inc. v. Hagopian
90 F.R.D. 574 (S.D. New York, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
92 F.R.D. 770, 25 Wage & Hour Cas. (BNA) 271, 33 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 804, 1982 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10351, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arundar-v-staff-builders-temporary-personnel-inc-gand-1982.