Barrons v. Smallwood

• Court: District Court, D. Arizona
• Decided: April 22, 2024
• Docket: 2:23-cv-02705
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 WO 2 3 4 5 6 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 FOR THE DISTRICT OF ARIZONA

9 Samuel Barrons, No. CV-23-02705-PHX-DWL

10 Plaintiff, ORDER

11 v.

12 Christopher Smallwood, et al.,

13 Defendants. 14 15 On March 22, 2024, Plaintiff filed a motion for alternative service on Christopher 16 Smallwood (Doc. 10), which the Court denied without prejudice (Doc. 11). 17 On April 12, 2024, Plaintiff filed a renewed motion for alternative service on 18 Christopher Smallwood. (Doc. 12.) The renewed motion provides more detail regarding 19 Smallwood’s whereabouts and previous service attempts. 20 Rule 4(e) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure provides that an individual (with 21 exceptions not relevant here) may be served in a judicial district of the United States by:

22 (1) following state law for serving a summons in an action brought in courts of general jurisdiction in the state where the district court is located or 23 where service is made; or

24 (2) doing any of the following:

25 (A) delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to the individual personally; 26 (B) leaving a copy of each at the individual's dwelling or usual place of 27 abode with someone of suitable age and discretion who resides there; or 28 (C) delivering a copy of each to an agent authorized by appointment or by 1 law to receive service of process. 2 Rule 4.1 of the Arizona Rules of Civil Procedure details the available state-law 3 procedures for serving process within Arizona. Pursuant to Rule 4.1(d) of the Arizona 4 Rules, an individual may be served within Arizona using the same methods outlined in 5 Rule 4(e)(2) of the Federal Rules. Additionally, Rule 4.1(k) of the Arizona Rules provides 6 for alternative means of service: “If a party shows that the means of service provided in 7 Rule 4.1(c) through Rule 4.1(j) are impracticable, the court may—on motion and without 8 notice to the person to be served—order that service may be accomplished in another 9 manner,” in which case “the serving party must make a reasonable effort to provide the 10 person being served with actual notice of the action’s commencement” and must, at a 11 minimum, “mail the summons, the pleading being served, and any court order authorizing 12 an alternative means of service to the last-known business or residential address of the 13 person being served.” 14 Arizona’s Rule 4.1(k) requires a showing of impracticability. Impracticability in 15 this context requires “something less than a complete inability to serve the defendant” and 16 even “something less than the ‘due diligence’ showing required before service by 17 publication may be utilized.” Blair v. Burgener, 245 P.3d 898, 901, 903-04 (Ariz. Ct. App. 18 2010). In the context of Rule 4.1(k), “impracticable” simply means that the traditional 19 means of service have proved to be “extremely difficult or inconvenient.” Id. at 903. 20 The Court finds that service of Smallwood via traditional means has proved 21 impracticable. Service via the proposed alternative methods would constitute “a 22 reasonable effort to provide the [party] being served with actual notice of the action’s 23 commencement.” Ariz. R. Civ. P. 4.1(k)(2). 24 However, the Court notes that the proposed alternative methods (Doc. 12 at 6-7) are 25 joined with the disjunctive conjunction “or,” suggesting that Plaintiff may serve by taking 26 any one of the six actions proposed. This may have been inadvertent. At any rate, to 27 effectuate service, Plaintiff will need to take at least four of the six actions proposed in the 28 motion, as set forth below. 1 Accordingly, 2 IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion (Doc. 12) is granted. 3 IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that Plaintiff shall serve Christopher Smallwood by: 4 1. Physically posting a copy to the door of Smallwood’s last known address at 4500 5 Steiner Ranch Blvd, 2808, Austin, Texas 78732; 6 2. Mail sent to Smallwood’s last known address at 4500 Steiner Ranch Blvd. Apt. 7 2808, Austin, Texas 78732; 8 3. Email to Smallwood’s most recently known active email address; and 9 4. At least one of the following: 10 a. Service on Smallwood Behavioral, LLC, Erotes, Inc., or Forefront PSI 11 Inc.; 12 b. Service on Rio Smallwood located at 6633 E. Greenway Parkway, 13 Apt. 1083, Scottsdale, Arizona 85254; or 14 c. Publication of the summons and a statement describing how a copy of 15 the pleading being served may be obtained at least once a week for 16 four successive weeks in a newspaper in the county where Christopher 17 Smallwood was last known to reside. 18 Dated this 22nd day of April, 2024. 19 20 Lm ee” 21 f t _o——— Dominic W. Lanza 22 United States District Judge 23 24 25 26 27 28

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