IN THE SUPREME COURT, STATE OF WYOMING

2015 WY 36

OCTOBER TERM, A.D. 2014

March 6, 2015

JESSICA DIRKS,

Appellant

(Plaintiff),

v.

KEN JIMENEZ,

Appellee

(Defendant).

S-14-0121

Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County

The Honorable Steven K. Sharpe, Judge

Representing Appellant:

Bernard Q. Phelan of The Phelan Law Firm, Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Representing Appellee:

George E. Powers, Jr. and Jane M. France of Sundahl, Powers, Kapp & Martin 

LLC, Cheyenne, Wyoming. Argument by Ms. France.

Before BURKE, C.J., and HILL, KITE, DAVIS, and FOX, JJ.

NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in Pacific Reporter Third. 

Readers are requested to notify the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Building, 

Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, of any typographical or other formal errors so that correction may be 

made before final publication in the permanent volume.
1

FOX, Justice.

[¶1] Jessica Dirks filed a complaint against Ken Jimenez, alleging she was injured 

when she was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Mr. Jimenez that left the road and rolled 

several times. Ms. Dirks served Mr. Jimenez under Wyoming’s nonresident motorist

statute by serving the Secretary of State and sending a copy by certified mail to the Rock 

Springs, Wyoming, address for Mr. Jimenez in the accident report, although she had 

obtained a more current address in discovery in a prior proceeding. She also notified the 

attorneys who had represented Mr. Jimenez in the prior proceeding. The district court 

found that Ms. Dirks failed to demonstrate due diligence in locating Mr. Jimenez and did 

not comply with the nonresident motorist statute, and it therefore quashed the attempted 

service and dismissed the case as untimely. We affirm. 

ISSUES

[¶2] 1. Ms. Dirks mailed notice of service to an address which she knew or should 

have known was no longer valid. Was the notice sufficient to satisfy the requirements of 

Wyoming’s nonresident motorist statute?

2. Was notice of service on Mr. Jimenez’s former attorney actual notice, 

sufficient to satisfy the requirements of Wyoming’s nonresident motorist statute? 

FACTS

[¶3] Ms. Dirks filed her first complaint on April 25, 2012, alleging that she had been 

injured on April 26, 2008, when the vehicle driven by Mr. Jimenez, in which she was a 

passenger, left the road and rolled several times, causing her injury. In the course of that 

proceeding, Mr. Jimenez provided his Defendant’s Rule 26 Disclosures which gave his 

address in Duluth, Minnesota. The action was dismissed without prejudice on October 

11, 2012, by stipulation of the parties, “subject to potential refiling within one (1) year 

from the dismissal of this action pursuant to W.S. § 1-3-118.” 

[¶4] Ms. Dirks filed a new complaint seeking recovery for injuries she sustained in the 

2008 accident on October 3, 2013. Her attorney filed an Affidavit Regarding Service 

Upon Secretary of State for a Person Outside the State of Wyoming; Mailing to the Last 

Known Address of the Defendant by Certified Mail, pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-

301 (LexisNexis 2013), in which he stated that he filed the complaint and summons with 

the Secretary of State, and sent a copy by certified mail to Mr. Jimenez at his last known 

address. That address, in Rock Springs, Wyoming, was the address for Mr. Jimenez on 

the 2008 Investigator’s Traffic Crash Report. The attorney’s affidavit also stated that a 

copy of the complaint, summons, and affidavit had been sent to the attorneys who had 

represented Mr. Jimenez in the first proceeding.
2

[¶5] The same attorneys entered their appearance on behalf of Mr. Jimenez in the 

second action, and filed their Motion to Quash Service for Lack of Jurisdiction Due to 

Insufficiency of Process, Insufficiency of Service of Process and Motion to Dismiss for 

Failure to State a Claim Upon Which Relief Can be Granted. The district court agreed 

that Ms. Dirks had not exercised due diligence in attempting to locate Mr. Jimenez, as 

required by Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-301 and Colley v. Dyer, 821 P.2d 565, 567 (Wyo. 

1991), and it ordered that the attempted service be quashed and the case dismissed as 

untimely.1

[¶6] Ms. Dirks timely filed this appeal. 

DISCUSSION

[¶7] We review a district court’s decision to grant a motion to dismiss de novo. 

Courtenay C. & Lucy Patten Davis Found. v. Colo. State Univ. Research Found., 2014 

WY 32, ¶ 13, 320 P.3d 1115, 1118 (Wyo. 2014) (citing Ridgerunner, LLC v. Meisinger, 

2013 WY 31, ¶ 10, 297 P.3d 110, 114 (Wyo. 2013)). Where the facts of service are not 

in dispute, the issue of adequate service of process is a matter of law and is reviewed de 

novo. Rosty v. Skaj, 2012 WY 28, ¶ 22, 272 P.3d 947, 955 (Wyo. 2012) (citing Hoke v. 

Motel 6 Jackson, 2006 WY 38, ¶ 6, 131 P.3d 369, 373 (Wyo. 2006)).

[¶8] Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-301(a) (LexisNexis 2013) provides for service of process 

on nonresident motorists. 

Service shall be made by serving a copy of the process upon 

the secretary of state or by filing such copy in his office, 

together with payment of a fee of three dollars ($3.00). 

Within ten (10) days after the date of service, notice of such 

service and a copy of the process shall be served upon the 

defendant or his personal representative either personally or 

by certified mail addressed to the last known address of the 

defendant or his personal representative. The plaintiff shall 

file with the clerk of the court in which the action is brought 

an affidavit that he has complied with such requirement.

[¶9] Our rules of statutory construction require us to determine the legislature’s intent. 

 

1 The reason for the dismissal was that because service had not been accomplished within 60 days of 

filing the Complaint, the action could not be deemed commenced on the date the Complaint was filed, 

W.R.C.P. 3(b), and therefore no action was filed within the limitations period. 
3

We begin by making an inquiry respecting the ordinary and 

obvious meaning of the words employed according to their 

arrangement and connection. We construe the statute as a 

whole, giving effect to every word, clause, and sentence, and 

we construe all parts of the statute in pari materia. When a 

statute is sufficiently clear and unambiguous, we give effect 

to the plain and ordinary meaning of the words and do not 

resort to the rules of statutory construction.

Thomas v. Sumner, 2015 WY 7, ¶ 31, 341 P.3d 390, 399 (Wyo. 2015) (quoting MF v. 

State, 2013 WY 104, ¶ 8, 308 P.3d 854, 857 (Wyo. 2013)).

I. Ms. Dirks mailed notice of service to an address which she knew or should have 

known was no longer valid. Was the notice sufficient to satisfy the requirements of 

Wyoming’s nonresident motorist statute?

[¶10] Because they are in derogation of the common law, we strictly construe 

nonresident service of process statutes:

[E]ach step is jurisdictional and a condition precedent to 

completion of service of process upon a nonresident 

defendant. The duty to show compliance with a substituted 

service statute rests with the plaintiff attempting such service. 

The attorney for a litigant is responsible for strict compliance 

with the rules and statutes authorizing substituted service.

Gookin v. State Farm Fire & Cas. Ins. Co., 826 P.2d 229, 234-35 (Wyo. 1992) (citations 

omitted); see also Midway Oil Corp. v. Guess, 714 P.2d 339, 342 (Wyo. 1986) (“Since 

the service of process is the basis upon which jurisdiction is obtained, this court and 

current law have frequently enunciated the rule that strict compliance with the statute is 

required.”); In Interest of DG, 825 P.2d 369, 375 (Wyo. 1992); In re Estate of Lonquest, 

526 P.2d 994, 998 (Wyo. 1974); Pease Bros., Inc. v. Am. Pipe & Supply Co., 522 P.2d 

996, 1003 (Wyo. 1974).

[¶11] As a threshold matter, we have required “that a diligent effort be made to locate an 

absent defendant before means of substitute service become available[.]” Colley, 821 

P.2d at 567. We described that due diligence standard as

that which is reasonable under the circumstances and not all 

possible diligence which may be conceived. Nor is it that 

diligence which stops just short of the place where if it were 

continued might reasonably be expected to uncover an 

address . . . of the person on whom service is sought. . . . Due 

diligence must be tailored to fit the circumstances of each 
4

case. It is that diligence which is appropriate to accomplish 

the end sought and which is reasonably calculated to do so.

Id. at 568 (quoting Carlson v. Bos, 740 P.2d 1269, 1277 n.13 (Utah 1987)).

[¶12] Mr. Jimenez’s last known address was in Duluth, Minnesota, and Ms. Dirks did 

not send the copy of the summons and complaint there. As the district court found, Ms. 

Dirks’ counsel made no further effort to locate Mr. Jimenez:

[Ms. Dirks’] counsel stated that he did not contact [Mr. 

Jimenez’s] counsel in the previously dismissed suit . . .

regarding acceptance of service or to inquire about [Mr. 

Jimenez’s] whereabouts. [Ms. Dirks] did not hire an 

investigator to aid in locating [Mr. Jimenez] for service of 

process. [Ms. Dirks] did not review the discovery responses 

exchanged in [the previously dismissed] suit, which contained 

a newer address for [Mr. Jimenez] than the one contained in 

the Investigator’s Traffic Crash Report. Plaintiff did not 

search for [Mr. Jimenez] via a computer or Internet search to 

obtain a current address before attempting service under Wyo. 

Stat. Ann. § 1-6-301.

[¶13] We do not suggest that this list of efforts to locate a defendant is required in every 

case; indeed, in most cases the address in the Investigator’s Traffic Crash Report can be 

reasonably relied upon. Here, however, given the information in Ms. Dirks’ possession 

of a more recent address and the extended passage of time, it was reasonable under the 

circumstance for her to have attempted at least one of these search efforts to locate Mr. 

Jimenez. 

[¶14] Ms. Dirks failed to make the initial determination whether substituted service was 

justified. She sent notice of service to Mr. Jimenez at a Rock Springs, Wyoming,

address, which raises the question whether any diligent effort was made to determine if 

the use of the statute for service on “nonresident” motorists was appropriate in the first 

place. Further, she did not send the notice to Mr. Jimenez’s last known address. She

failed to exercise due diligence to find any address more current than the one in the 2008 

report.2 Diligence under the circumstances would have included some effort to locate 

 

2

In Colley, we suggested that “a party may rely upon the address given to the investigating authorities,” 

and held that reliance on the address in the accident report which contained the trailer park address but not 

the space number was reasonable. Colley, 821 P.2d at 569 n.5. That statement pertained to the precision 

of the address, and not to the reasonableness of relying solely on the accident report address. The Colley 

court also explained that due diligence requires “more than a simple ascertainment of the last known 

address. . . . This necessarily involves an attempt to develop and exhaust leads which a person normally 

leaves behind in the course of living.” Id. at 568. 
5

Mr. Jimenez, including examining discovery documents in her possession. Here, no such 

effort was demonstrated. 

[¶15] We hold that Ms. Dirks’ use of Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 1-6-301 and attempted notice of 

the suit to Mr. Jimenez at the Rock Springs address did not satisfy the statutory 

requirements.

II. Was notice of service on Mr. Jimenez’s former attorney actual notice, sufficient to 

satisfy the requirements of Wyoming’s nonresident motorist statute? 

[¶16] Ms. Dirks also mailed a copy of the complaint and summons to the attorneys who 

had represented Mr. Jimenez in the first action, and who later entered an appearance on 

his behalf in the second action. They obviously had notice of the action, and presumably

had Mr. Jimenez’s authorization to appear on his behalf. See Wyo. R. Prof. Conduct 1.2, 

1.4. 

[¶17] Ms. Dirks argued that these facts support a finding that Mr. Jimenez received 

actual notice of the action against him,3 which suffices to satisfy the due process standard 

of service “reasonably calculated” to reach the defendant, citing Mullane v. Central 

Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 70 S.Ct. 652, 94 L.Ed 865 (1950). We do not 

address the constitutional argument because we resolve this case on statutory grounds. 

Wilson v. Bd. of Cnty. Comm'rs of Cnty. of Teton, 2007 WY 42, ¶ 14, 153 P.3d 917, 922 

(Wyo. 2007) (discussing “the principle that we will not address constitutional issues if we 

are able to resolve the case on other grounds”). 

[¶18] Our rules of civil procedure provide a mechanism for early resolution of a defense 

of insufficient process or service of process.

4

 W.R.C.P. 12(b)(4) and (5) allow the 

defenses of insufficiency of process and insufficiency of service of process to be made 

by motion. W.R.C.P. 12(h)(1)(B) provides that those defenses are waived if they are 

“neither made by motion under this rule nor included in a responsive pleading 

or an amendment thereof[.]” Mr. Jimenez did exactly as the rule provides and filed 

Defendant’s Motion to Quash Service for Lack of Jurisdiction Due to Insufficiency of 

Process, Insufficiency of Service of Process and Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a 

Claim Upon Which Relief Can be Granted. It would entirely defeat the purpose of these 

provisions of Rule 12 to find that his ability to file that motion was evidence of actual 

notice which deprived him of the defense. 

 

3 Ms. Dirks makes no argument that service on Mr. Jimenez’s former or future attorneys complies with 

express service requirements. Indeed, we have stated that “[s]ervice upon a person not authorized to act 

as such agent for process is not compliance with the fundamental or basic requirements of [W.R.C.P. 4].” 

Bryant v. Wybro Fed. Credit Union, 544 P.2d 1010, 1012 (Wyo. 1976). 

4

“Court rules have the force and effect of law and are construed in the same manner as statutes.” Paxton 

Res., L.L.C. v. Brannaman, 2004 WY 93, ¶ 16, 95 P.3d 796, 801 (Wyo. 2004).
6

[¶19] We have held that “actual notice” does not satisfy statutory service requirements, 

stating:

Numerous authorities hold that personal delivery of a

summons to the wrong person does not constitute valid 

personal service even though the summons shortly comes into 

the possession of the party to be served. * * * A contrary 

rule would negate the statutory procedure for setting aside a 

defectively served summons, since the motion itself is usually 

evidence that the summons has been received[.]

Pease Bros., 522 P.2d at 1003 (quoting McDonald v. Ames Supply Co., 238 N.E.2d 726, 

728 (N.Y. 1968)). This approach is consistent with our rule of strict construction to 

nonresident service of process statutes. Gookin, 826 P.2d at 234-35. 

[¶20] We continue to adhere to the rule that notice of service of process under Wyo. 

Stat. Ann. § 1-6-301 must be accomplished with strict compliance to the statute’s 

requirements. Notice to an address which the plaintiff should have known was not the 

“last known address of the defendant,” with no diligence exercised to locate a more 

current address, does not comply with the statute. Further, “actual notice” to the wrong 

person does not satisfy the statute’s requirements. 

[¶21] Affirmed.