{"id":2217,"date":"2018-04-07T13:42:55","date_gmt":"2018-04-07T21:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/trainingpips.com\/?page_id=2217"},"modified":"2019-04-18T03:22:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-18T11:22:47","slug":"ps-102-chapter-4-article-2-due-diligence-painter-v-olney","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/ps-102-a-course-outline\/ps-102-understanding-case-summaries\/ps-102-chapter-4-an-introduction-to-due-diligence-case-law\/ps-102-chapter-4-article-2-due-diligence-painter-v-olney\/","title":{"rendered":"PS 102 – Chapter 4 – Article 2 – Due Diligence – Painter v. Olney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summary
\nPainter v. Olney, 37 Wn. App. 424, 680 P.2d 1066 (1984).<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Facts<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Plaintiff Painter filed a claim arising from a motor vehicle collision against Defendants Olney and Kometz. The vehicle that struck Plaintiff was owned by Olney and driven by Kometz.<\/span><\/p>\n

Painter\u2019s attorney had a copy of the police traffic collision report that contained:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Kometz\u2019s full name and address (823 N.E. 190th St.)<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Kometz\u2019s home phone number<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Kometz\u2019s business number<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. The name of Kometz\u2019s employer (Olney)<\/span><\/li>\n
  5. Olney\u2019s full name and address.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    For about 18 months after the accident, Kometz lived at the address contained in the report. She then moved to Kirkland but left a forwarding address with postal officials. At all times pertinent, her business telephone number remained the same. At all times pertinent, Defendant Olney lived at the address contained in the report.<\/span><\/p>\n

    The summons and complaint was taken by a process server to 823 – 190th St. According to the process server\u2019s affidavit of nonservice, the server was told by the people living there that Olney and Kometz had moved about two years ago, and they had no clues as to where they may be. In fact, Kometz and Olney never lived together at this or any other address, and the attempt was made at a different, though similar address (190th, not N.E. 190th).<\/span><\/p>\n

    Painter\u2019s attorney then prepared an affidavit and motion for service of summons by publication, stating that \u201cpersonal service cannot be made on defendants within this state to the affiant\u2019s best knowledge, information and belief\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Judicial History<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    Superior court upheld the validity of the service of process by publication.\u00a0 The Court of Appeals held that Plaintiffs failed to make a sufficient effort to locate the defendants, and rendered the service by publication inappropriate.\u00a0 The action was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Specific Issue<\/strong><\/span>
    \nIs strict compliance required for statutes authorizing service by means other than personal service?<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Yes<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    Holding<\/strong><\/span>
    \nFirst and basic to any litigation is jurisdiction.\u00a0 First and basic to jurisdiction is service of process.\u00a0 Statutes authorizing service by means other than personal service require strict compliance.\u00a0 An honest and reasonable effort should be made to find the defendant prior to alternative service of process.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Reasoning<\/strong><\/span>
    \nThe plaintiff, in having an agent call only at a house where it appears that neither defendant had ever lived and then abandoning the search, despite possessing additional information regarding the defendant\u2019s whereabouts, did not make the honest and reasonable effort necessary to allow for service by publication.<\/span><\/p>\n

    C4PSE\u00a0Comment<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

    The record does not reflect exactly what the plaintiff\u2019s attorney provided to the process server. However, the server either knew, or should have known, that the case was the result of an automobile accident. In such a situation it is reasonable for a server to ask the client for a copy of the accident report. Had this occurred the outcome of this case would most likely have been much different than it turned out.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Summary Painter v. Olney, 37 Wn. App. 424, 680 P.2d 1066 (1984). Facts Plaintiff Painter filed a claim arising from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":2213,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2217","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2217"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2217\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/app.trainingpips.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}