Safeco Insurance Company Of America v. Air Vent, Inc.

• Court: District Court, D. Nevada
• Decided: March 25, 2021
• Docket: 2:20-cv-01579
• Status: Unknown

Opinion

1 2 3 4 5 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 6 DISTRICT OF NEVADA 7 SAFECO INSURANCE COMPANY OF 8 AMERICA, Case No. 2:20-cv-01579-JAD-NJK

9 Plaintiff(s), Order

10 v. [Docket No. 38]

11 AIR VENT, INC., et al., 12 Defendant(s). 13 Pending before the Court is Defendant/Third-Party Plaintiff Air Vent’s motion to extend 14 the deadline to serve Third-Party Defendant Powermax Electric. Docket No. 38. The motion does 15 not identify the date on which service is currently due. Because it is not clear that such a deadline 16 exists, the Court construes the motion as one seeking the setting of a deadline to effectuate service 17 rather than seeking to extend that deadline.1 18 Here, Air Vent indicates that it submitted its Hague Convention documents on March 3, 19 2021, and further that such service in China generally averages around seven months. See Docket 20 No. 38-1 at ¶¶ 9, 11. Given those attestations, the Court will set a deadline for Air Vent to 21 22 23 1 The deadline for effectuating service and the consequences for failing to comply with that 24 deadline are generally governed by Rule 4(m) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, but that rule does not apply to service on a foreign corporation. Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(m) (exempting service 25 completed under Rule 4(h)(2)); see also Lucas v. Natoli, 936 F.2d 432, 432 (9th Cir. 1991) (addressing predecessor version of Rule 4(m)). The rules governing service in foreign countries 26 similarly do not provide a deadline. E.g., Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(h). Nonetheless, courts possess the inherent authority to set a deadline for service on a foreign corporation. See Inst. of Cetacean 27 Rsch. v. Sea Shepherd Conserv. Soc’y, 153 F. Supp. 3d 1291, 1320 (W.D. Wash. 2015) (collecting cases). Failure to comply with such deadline may result in dismissal. See id.; see also Panliant 28 Fin’l Corp. v. ISEE3D, Inc., 2014 WL 3592718, at *6-7 (D. Nev. July 21, 2014). effectuate service on Powermax Electric of October 4, 2021. If Air Vent believes it cannot meet 2|| this deadline, it must file a properly supported request seeking to extend the deadline.” 3 Accordingly, Air Vent’s motion is GRANTED in part and DENIED in part consistent with the above. 5 IT IS SO ORDERED. 6 Dated: March 24, 2021 A. Nancy J. Koppe, * 8 United States-Magistrate Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 > The instant motion is bare bones. Further requests must include meaningful discussion of the issues. Cf’ Kor Media Grp., LLC v. Green, 294 F.R.D. 579, 582 n.3 (D. Nev. 2013). The 28] Court expresses no opinion as to whether a request to extend the deadline set herein will be granted.