Case Number: SC120807    Hearing Date: August 01, 2014    Dept: O

SC120807
SHANKAR v. KASSABIAN ET AL

Defendant Kensuke Ogura’s Motion to Quash is GRANTED. Plaintiff failed to serve Defendant in conformity with CCP 416.90. Service was effectuated on Ogura’s counsel of record in another action, who testifies he is not authorized to accept service on Ogura’s behalf in this action.

ANALYSIS:Plaintiff served Defendant Kensuke Ogura by serving his counsel in another case, Floyd Belsito. Belsito is not Ogura’s counsel of record in this action. Plaintiff claims Belsito was served as Plaintiff’s agent under CCP 416.90. Plaintiff does not assert sub-service but substantial compliance with personal service on one’s agent. Under CCP 416.90, “[a] summons may be served on a person not otherwise specified in this article by delivering a copy of the summons and of the complaint to such person or to a person authorized by him to receive service of process.”

Plaintiff fails to establish proper service. Belsito was not authorized by Ogura to accept service in this action or generally. See Motion, Decl. of Belsito, ¶¶2-5. While substantial compliance is permitted, a complete failure to comply with CCP 416.90 is insufficient to establish proper service. Belsito was not a person authorized to accept service in this action and was only Ogura’s agent for the limited purposes set forth by their attorney-client agreement. Plaintiff submits no evidence to refute this assertion. Service on Belsito qualifies as a complete failure to comply with CCP 416.90’s statutory requirement that the person served with the document be authorized to receive service by the defendant. See Summers v. McClanahan (2006) 140 Cal.App.4th 403, 413-414 (service on defendant’s personal manager did not qualify as proper service, despite actual notice, where undisputed evidence established personal manager was not authorized to accept service on Defendant’s behalf).