Court Opinion

ID: 8045624
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-09 03:55:21.833692+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:37:28.444404
License: Public Domain

Rose, J.,
with whom Maupin, C. J., agrees, dissenting:
I dissent because I believe the district court correctly ruled that service of process was properly effected upon Mr. Dahya in Tenerife, Spain, and it was not in violation of the service abroad provisions of the Hague Convention. In the case of Banco Latino, S.A.C.A. v. Gomez Lopez, 53 F. Supp. 2d 1273 (S.D. Fla. 1999), the defendant was served outside the United States in a manner similar to service in this case. In refusing to quash service, the federal district court concluded that various service methods can be used in foreign countries without violating the Hague Convention as long as the nation receiving service has not objected to them. See id. at 1280.
This standard seems reasonable. The object of service of process is to give notice of a pending legal action. It is often difficult to do this in a neighboring state, let alone a foreign nation where the law may be unwritten, unclear, or subject to arbitrary interpretation. Construing the Hague Convention’s service of process provisions liberally permits service of process in a foreign nation in a manner that is not prohibited, and actually notifies the person served. This is the approach taken by the Banco Latino case and I believe it is the better precedent to follow. Accordingly, I believe Dahya was properly served, and I would deny the petition.