Farmer v. Davis

250 P.3d 138
CourtCourt of Appeals of Washington
DecidedApril 21, 2011
Docket28817-0-III
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 250 P.3d 138 (Farmer v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Washington primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Farmer v. Davis, 250 P.3d 138 (Wash. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

250 P.3d 138 (2011)

Christopher M. FARMER, a single person, Appellant,
v.
Bradley M. DAVIS and Jane Doe Davis, and the marital community thereof, Respondents.

No. 28817-0-III.

Court of Appeals of Washington, Division 3.

April 21, 2011.

*140 Douglas Dwight Phelps, Phelps & Associates, P.S., Spokane, WA, for Appellant.

Raymond W. Schutts, Law Offices of Raymond W. Schutts, Liberty Lake, WA, for Respondent.

SIDDOWAY, J.

¶ 1 Washington statutes permit service of a summons by delivery to someone other than the defendant (substitute service) if a copy is left at the house of the defendant's usual abode with a resident of suitable age and discretion. RCW 4.28.080(15). In this case, the only delivery of a summons for Bradley Davis that was timely accomplished was delivery to Mr. Davis's mother's home, where Mr. Davis had resided three years earlier, at the time of the auto accident giving rise to the action. The trial court granted summary judgment dismissing Mr. Farmer's complaint on grounds that undisputed evidence established that at the time of service, Mr. Davis's mother's home was not the house of his usual abode. Mr. Farmer appeals, alleging legal error by the trial court in failing to apply a required presumption in favor of his affidavits of service and in disregarding the rule of liberal construction announced in Sheldon v. Fettig, 129 Wash.2d 601, 609, 919 P.2d 1209 (1996). He also argues that the court abused its discretion in refusing to grant a continuance of the motion under CR 56(f) and in striking portions of his affidavits. Because the trial court properly applied the law to the facts of this case and did not abuse its discretion, we affirm.

FACTS AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

¶ 2 Christopher Farmer and Bradley Davis were involved in an automobile accident on April 21, 2006. On April 10, 2009, shortly before the running of the statute of limitations, Mr. Farmer filed suit against Mr. Davis for negligence. Relying on RCW 4.16.170, which tolls the statute of limitations for 90 days upon filing suit, Mr. Farmer's counsel undertook to serve Mr. Davis.

¶ 3 On May 27, 2009, a process server delivered a copy of the summons and complaint to 1520 Tombstone Street, Rathdrum, Idaho, the residence address for Mr. Davis set forth in the police report of the 2006 accident. The address turned out to be that of Laurie Davis, Mr. Davis's mother. On June 3, 2009, Mr. Davis's lawyer filed a notice of appearance, reserving defenses for improper service and lack of jurisdiction.

¶ 4 Because Mr. Farmer was reportedly "[c]oncerned that the Defendant might attempt to deny [the May 27] service," Parker Gibson, an Idaho investigator, was hired to attempt personal service on Mr. Davis. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 38 (Brief in Response to Defendant's Motion for Summary Judgment). Mr. Gibson delivered a second copy of the summons and complaint to Ms. Davis at the Tombstone address on June 25.[1] Mr. Gibson's later declaration in opposition to summary judgment acknowledged that Ms. Davis refused to accept service and disavowed knowledge of her son's whereabouts. Mr. Gibson eventually identified a 13537 Halley Street address in Rathdrum as Mr. Davis's residence and personally served the summons and complaint there on July 16. Upon being served, Mr. Davis asked, "Isn't it too late?" to which Mr. Gibson responded, "No. It's not." CP at 80. Mr. Davis replied, "Oh. Alright, well I've been waitin'." CP at 80.

¶ 5 In October 2009, Mr. Davis, who had asserted affirmative defenses of insufficient service and the statute of limitations in his answer, moved for summary judgment dismissing Mr. Farmer's complaint. Mr. Davis's declaration in support of the motion stated that he had not lived at his mother's address on Tombstone since getting married on January 27, 2007; that upon getting married, he and his wife lived in an apartment in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, until the spring of 2009, when they moved to their 13537 Halley Street residence; and that he had never *141 authorized his mother or anyone else to accept service on his behalf. Ms. Davis's declaration in support of the motion stated that the first process server had handed her legal paperwork without stating what the papers were, and that she only realized in looking at them after the process server left that they were for a lawsuit pertaining to her son. She stated that her son was never mentioned by the process server and that she made no representation she was accepting the papers on her son's behalf. She stated that she called her son about the papers but has no recollection that she ever gave them to him. Addressing the second delivery of papers, Ms. Davis stated that the process server approached her in her yard and stated he was there to serve papers for Bradley Davis; she responded that Bradley did not live at her home and repeatedly refused to accept the papers, stating that the process server needed to serve Bradley.

¶ 6 Mr. Farmer opposed the motion with affidavits of his lawyer and Mr. Gibson, recounting Mr. Gibson's information gathering and other efforts to locate and serve Mr. Davis. The affidavits stated that (1) Mr. Gibson contacted one of Ms. Davis's neighbors on Tombstone, who said that Mr. Davis had a boat and other personal items at the Tombstone address, that he was unsure where Mr. Davis lived, and that he did not want to get involved in helping Mr. Gibson; (2) the recorded message for the telephone at Ms. Davis's residence stated, "Hi, we're not home right now but if you'd like to leave a message for Laurie, press 1, Brian, press 2 or Bradley, press 3"; (3) Mr. Gibson's review of "computer services" identified the Tombstone address as that of Bradley Davis and Laurie Davis and identified Ms. Davis's residence telephone number as that of Bradley Davis as well; (4) Mr. Gibson visited an apartment on Emma Street in Coeur d'Alene, an address identified by a "computer service" as an alternative short-term residence for Mr. Davis, where he was told by an unidentified tenant that she had assumed a prior tenant's lease and had no information about Mr. Davis; and (5) Mr. Gibson determined that Mr. Davis received a speeding ticket on August 24, 2009 that was completed with the same Emma Street address in Coeur d'Alene where he had unsuccessfully attempted to locate Mr. Davis and despite reflecting an incorrect address, the ticket was timely paid. CP at 54, 59-60. From these facts and Mr. Davis's statements made to Mr. Gibson when served in July, the affidavits of Mr. Farmer's lawyer and Mr. Gibson expressed their conclusions that Mr. Davis received actual notice of the lawsuit and thereafter evaded service, including by providing an outdated Emma Street address to the Idaho district court in connection with the speeding ticket. Mr. Farmer argued that Ms. Davis's home should be considered a second "house of usual abode" for Mr. Davis under the liberal construction of the substitute service statute required by Sheldon, 129 Wash.2d 601, 919 P.2d 1209. He also argued that Mr. Davis should be judicially estopped from denying service because of his misrepresentation of the false Emma Street address evidenced by the August 2009 speeding ticket.

¶ 7 Mr. Davis moved to strike portions of Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Brian Green, V Department Of Corrections
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2025
Shannon J. Bitzer, Sr., V. Michelle T. Alvarez
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2022
Jprd Investments v. Dawit Tefferi And Jane Doe Tefferi
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2021
Ibrahim A. Abdulwahid v. Eastern State Hospital
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2021
Arthur West v. Clark County
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2021
Glory Martin Jayagaran v. Sunita Jayagaran
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020
Peter Clark v. Jesse Hoyos Diaz, et ux
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020
Ivonne Campbell v. Ana Fernandez
473 P.3d 675 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2020)
Lauriane Narin v. Mohamed S. Abubakar
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019
State v. Alltus
447 P.3d 572 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019)
State of Washington v. Shalin E. Alltus
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019
Anne Block v. Spokane County
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019
In Re The Estate Of: Margaret Rai-choudhury
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019
Mariya Tarasyuk v. Mut. of Enumclaw Ins. Co.
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2019
Shannon M Gentry v. Kyle E. Roberts
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2018
Darling Sons Int'l, Llc v. Deatley Bros., Llc.
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2018
Lorenzo Gino Sandoval, V Cheryl L. Sullivan
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2017
Tamara Zaitsev v. Shawn Keller, Dds
Court of Appeals of Washington, 2017

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
250 P.3d 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farmer-v-davis-washctapp-2011.