Court Opinion

ID: 9778461
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 21:05:43.18017+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:33:09.403636
License: Public Domain

Pierron, J.,
concurring: I respectfully concur because I believe the majority opinion correctly states the precedent which interprets K.S.A. 60-203, K.S.A. 60-204, and K.S.A. 60-212. However, as this case indicates to me, we may have lost sight of the purpose of notice through service of process.
I first acknowledge that the statutes in question provide clear and straightforward ways to obtain good service that generally should be followed. K.S.A. 60-204 provides that substantial compliance with any method of serving process shall effect valid service provided that the party served was made aware of the pending action, notwithstanding some irregularity or omission in service.
Under the facts of this case, I believe the purposes of the statutes involved, to provide notice of the suit to the party being served, were accomplished. The office was served, the doctor was obviously informed of the suit, and just as obviously he turned it over to his attorney who proceeded to defend the case.
The fact that the rules for service were not followed meticulously is clear, but it is also clear that the doctor was provided with notice of the suit. It is true that we do not want service of process to become haphazard. However, under the facts of this case, I believe that the purposes of the service statutes were met and the entire case should not be thrown out because of the more or less technical errors in the way the doctor was actually made aware of the suit.