Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-casd-3_18-cv-01882/USCOURTS-casd-3_18-cv-01882-0/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 890
Nature of Suit: Other Statutory Actions
Cause of Action: 28:1441nr Notice of Removal

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CASE NO. 3:18-CV-1882-GPC-BGS

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

OUTLAW LABORATORY, LP a Texas 

Limited Partnership,

Plaintiff,

v.

SAN DIEGO OUTLET INC., et al.,

Defendants.

Case No. 3:18-cv-1882-GPC-BGS

ORDER GRANTING 

MOTION TO QUASH 

SUMMONS

[ECF No 8.]. 

ROMA MIKHA, INC, Defendantcounterclaimant and NMRM, Inc. and 

SKYLINE MARKET, INC., third-party 

plaintiffs, individually and on behalf of all 

similarly situated entities,

v.

OUTLAW LABORATORY, LP, 

Counterclaim Defendant and Third-Party 

Defendant

Case 3:18-cv-01882-GPC-BGS Document 35 Filed 11/14/18 PageID.<pageID> Page 1 of 3
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1 CASE NO. 3:18-CV-1882-GPC-BGS

Before the Court is Defendant Midway M3, Inc.’s (“Midway’s”) Motion to 

Quash Summons, filed September 4, 2018. (ECF No. 8.) On September 21, 2018, 

Plaintiff Outlaw Laboratory, LP (“Plaintiff”) filed a notice of non-opposition to 

Midway’s motion to quash. (ECF No. 21.) 

Midway is one of 51 defendants named in a July 25, 2018 complaint filed 

by Plaintiff in San Diego Superior Court. Thereafter, the clerk of the state court 

issued summons against the defendants; however, the docket of that court does not 

reflect that summons was ever served on any defendant. On August 12, 2018, 

another defendant in this action, Roma Mikha, Inc., removed the case to this Court

(ECF No. 1.), and Plaintiff’s counsel was served with removal papers via 

CM/ECF and first-class U.S. Mail.

On August 30, 2018, approximately three weeks after removal, Plaintiff 

caused to be served on Midway a state-court summons from San Diego Superior 

Court. Midway has moved to quash that summons pursuant to Federal Rule of 

Civil Procedure 12(b)(4) and 12(b)(5), which permits defendants to move to quash

for “insufficient process,” and “insufficient service of process,” respectively. FED.

R. CIV. P. 12(b)(4), (5). 

Midway argues that “[f]ollowing removal, service of process is technically 

ineffective if a plaintiff serves a defendant with a state couirt summons instead of 

a federal court summons.” Smallwood v. Allied Pickfords, LLC, No. 

08CV2196BTM(RBB), 2009 WL 3247180, at *2 (S.D. Cal. Sept. 29, 2009), on 

reconsideration in part on other grounds, No. 08CV2196 BTM(RBB), 2010 WL 

11508273 (S.D. Cal. Feb. 5, 2010), and aff'd sub nom. Smallwood v. Allied Van 

Lines, Inc., 660 F.3d 1115 (9th Cir. 2011); see also Dean Marketing, Inc. v. AOC 

Intern. (U.S.A.) Ltd., 610 F. Supp. 149, 152 (E.D. Mich. 1985) (“[P]laintiff’s 

attempted perfection of service of process after removal was ineffective where 

plaintiff mailed a state court summons rather than a summons issued by federal 

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2

CASE NO. 3:18-CV-1882-GPC-BGS

court . . . .”). Midway posits further that it was not alone in receiving an improper

summons, and that similar summonses were likely to have been sent to the other 

50 defendants in the case. 

Midway’s unopposed motion to quash the state-court summons served upon 

it on August 30, 2018, is granted. Midway’s other request—for an order 

requiring Plaintiffs to inform all improperly-served defendants of the invalidity of 

the state-court summons—is also granted to the extent that Plaintiff has caused 

state-court summonses to be served on other defendants in this federal action after 

August 12, 2018. Plaintiff must make the notification within seven (7) days of the 

entry of this order. The motion hearing set for this matter on November 16, 2018, 

is hereby vacated. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

Dated: November 14, 2018

Case 3:18-cv-01882-GPC-BGS Document 35 Filed 11/14/18 PageID.<pageID> Page 3 of 3