GS Holistic LLC v. Ranya and Dania LLC

Opinion

1 2

3 4 5 6 7 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON 8 AT SEATTLE

9 10 GS HOLISTIC, LLC, CASE NO. C23-5179JLR 11 Plaintiff, ORDER v. 12 RANYA AND DANIA LLC, et al., 13 Defendants. 14

15 Before the court is Plaintiff GS Holistic, LLC’s (“GS Holistic”) motion for a 16 60-day extension of time to perfect service on Defendant Ali Altameemi. (Mot. (Dkt. 17 # 8).) The court GRANTS GS Holistic’s motion for an extension of time.1 18 Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4 requires a plaintiff to serve the defendant with a 19 20

1 Although the motion is noted for consideration on June 16, 2023 (see id.), the court sees 21 no reason to delay issuing a decision on the motion. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 1 (authorizing the court to construe the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure “to secure the just, speedy, and inexpensive 22 determination of every action and proceeding”). 1 summons and a copy of the complaint and sets forth the specific requirements for doing 2 so. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 4. Rule 4(m), which provides the timeframe in which service

3 must be effectuated, states in relevant part: 4 If a defendant is not served within 90 days after the complaint is filed, the court—on motion or on its own after notice to the plaintiff—must dismiss 5 the action without prejudice against that defendant or order that service be made within a specified time. But if the plaintiff shows good cause for the 6 failure, the court must extend the time for service for an appropriate period.

7 Id. 8 GS Holistic filed this action on March 6, 2023. (Compl. (Dkt. # 1).) As a result, 9 Rule 4(m)’s 90-day deadline for effectuating service of process expired on Monday, June 10 5, 2023. Fed. R. Civ. P 4(m). On April 27, 2023, GS Holistic filed an affidavit of service 11 on Defendant Ranya and Dania LLC. (Aff. of Service (Dkt. # 7).2) GS Holistic 12 represents that its process server attempted to serve Mr. Altameemi three times but was 13 unsuccessful. (Mot. ¶ 3.) GS Holistic then provided its process server a new address at 14 which to attempt service on Mr. Altameemi. (Id. ¶ 4.) The process server attempted to 15 serve Mr. Altameemi at that address, but no one was home at the time. (Id.) GS Holistic 16 now asks the court to extend the Rule 4(m) deadline by 60 days to allow it to perfect 17 service on Mr. Altameemi “either personally or by publication.” (Id. ¶ 5.) 18 Based on the limited information GS Holistic has provided regarding its efforts to 19 locate and serve Mr. Altameemi, the court does not find that GS Holistic has 20 demonstrated good cause for its failure to effectuate service before the Rule 4(m) 21

22 2 To date, Ranya and Dania LLC has not appeared in this action. (See generally Dkt.) 1 deadline. Nevertheless, the court GRANTS GS Holistic’s motion for a 60-day extension 2 of the deadline to perfect service (Dkt. # 8).3 GS Holistic shall file proof of service on

3 Mr. Altameemi by no later than August 4, 2023. Failure to do so may result in the 4 dismissal without prejudice of GS Holistic’s claims against Mr. Altameemi. Further 5 extensions of the deadline to serve Mr. Altameemi will not be granted absent exceptional 6 circumstances. 7 Dated this 7th day of June, 2023. 8 A 9 United States District Judge 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20

3 This order does not grant GS Holistic leave to serve Mr. Altameemi by publication. If 21 GS Holistic seeks to serve Mr. Altameemi by publication, it must file a motion for leave to do so. See Pascua v. Heil, 108 P.3d 1253, 1257 (Wash. Ct. App. 2005) (explaining the standard for 22 granting leave to serve a defendant by publication in Washington).