National Dev. Co. v. Triad Holding Corp.
930 F.2d 253 (2d Cir. 1991)
National was attempting to sue
a guy named Khashoggi (owner of Triad). They attempted to serve him with
papers at his mansion in New York, and his housekeeper accepted the
papers.
Khashoggi made a motion to
dismiss the case for lack of service of process.
Khashoggi argued that his
real address was in Saudi Arabia and that he routinely moved between a number of
houses worldwide. He only stayed in NYC for about about a month per
year. Therefore, the NYC address was not his dwelling house or usual
place of abode, and therefore under Federal
Rule 60(b)(4), sending a summons there did not meet the
minimum standard of service of process.
The Trial Court denied the
motion. Khashoggi appealed.
The Trial Court found that
the NYC address did not meet the minimum standard.
However, the Court noted
that regardless of how he got them, Khashoggi clearly now had the summons
and therefore service of process
had been satisfied.
The Appellate Court affirmed,
but for opposite reasons.
The Appellate Court found
that the Trial Court's assertion that Khasoggi now knew about the summons
was insufficient.
However, the Court found
that under Federal Rule 4(d)(1) (now
Federal Rule 4(e)(2)), that the NYC
address did count as his dwelling, so service of process
had been successful met.
The Court found a person
can have more than one dwelling or usual place of abode, so just because Khashoggi wasn't in NYC
often it didn't make him immune.
Based on the Mullane v.
Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co. (339 U.S. 306 (1950)) standard, the summons could be reasonably calculated to provide notice.