International Markets Live, Inc. v. Woods

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: April 22, 2022
• Docket: 2:22-cv-00254
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

3 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 4 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 5

6 INTERNATIONAL MARKETS LIVE, INC., Case No. 2:22-cv-00254-GMN-NJK 7 Plaintiff, Order 8 v. [Docket No. 6] 9 DE’EL WOODS,

10 Defendant. 11 Pending before the Court is Plaintiff's motion to extend the time to serve Defendant and to 12 allow service on Defendant by publication. The motion is properly decided without a hearing. See 13 Local Rule 78-1. For the reasons discussed more fully below, the motion is hereby GRANTED. 14 I. MOTION TO EXTEND TIME FOR SERVICE 15 Where good cause is shown, the time for serving the complaint is extended for an 16 appropriate period. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m). The motion establishes sufficient cause to extend 17 the time for effectuating service by 90 days to July 21, 2022. 18 II. MOTION FOR SERVICE BY PUBLICATION 19 Plaintiff seeks an order allowing it to effectuate service by publication. Service is to be 20 provided pursuant to the law of the forum state, or in which service is made. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 21 4(e)(1). Nevada law permits service by publication if the plaintiff cannot, after due diligence, 22 locate the defendant. See Nev. R. Civ. P. 4.4(c)(1)(a). Due diligence is that which is appropriate 23 to accomplish actual notice and is reasonably calculated to do so. See Abreu v. Gilmer, 115 Nev. 24 308, 313 (1999) (citing Parker v. Ross, 117 Utah 417, 217 P.2d 373, 379 (Utah 1950)). Courts 25 may consider the number of attempts made to serve the defendant at his residence and other 26 methods of locating the defendant, such as consulting public directories and family members. See, 27 e.g., Price v. Dunn, 787 P.2d 786, 786-87; Abreu 115 Nev. at 313; McNair v. Rivera, 110 Nev. 28 463, 874 P.2d 1240, 1241 (Nev. 1994). Service by publication is generally disfavored because 1} substituted service implicates a defendant’s constitutional right to due process. See, e.g., Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314-15; Trustees of the Nev. Resort Assoc.— 3|| Int’] Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees & Moving Picture Machine Operators v. Alumifax, Al Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. Lexis. 106456, *2 (D. Nev. July 29, 2013). 5 Plaintiff has established that in this case service by publication is warranted. Plaintiff has 6] attempted to effectuate service on Defendant on numerous occasions. For example, Plaintiff has 7|| attempted personal service on Defendant a total of nine times and at three potential addresses that 8|| were associated with Defendant and confirmed by public record searches. Docket No. 6-1 at 2-7. 9| Plaintiff also attempted to get information about Defendant’s location by talking with Defendant’s 10] mother, who stated that she would relay the information to Defendant, but would not give any 11} information regarding Defendant’s current whereabouts. /d. at 6. These circumstances suffice to 12] allow service by publication. 13 I. CONCLUSION 14 For the reasons discussed above, the motion to extend time and for service by publication 15] is GRANTED. Docket No. 6. The deadline to serve Defendant De’el Woods is extended to July 16] 21, 2022. Plaintiff must comply with the requirements of Rule 4 of the Nevada Rules of Civil 17] Procedure. Plaintiff must serve Defendant by publication in a newspaper of general circulation in 18] the State of Nevada on a weekly basis for a period of four weeks. Given that Plaintiff submits that 19} all the addresses associated with Defendant are in Texas, Plaintiff must also serve Defendant by 20] publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the State of Texas on a weekly basis for a 21|| period of four weeks. See Nev. R. Civ. P. 4.4(c)(4)(A). Plaintiff must also mail a copy of the summons and complaint to Defendant’s last known address. After publication is complete, 23] Plaintiff must file an Affidavit of Publication. 24 IT IS SO ORDERED. 25 Dated: April 22, 2022 26 4 Sa x Nancy J. Koppe, | 27 United States-Magistrate Judge 28