American Institute of Certified Public Accountants v. Affinity Card, Inc.
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
8 F. Supp. 2d 372 (1998)
Relevant factsFree
A process server delivered AICPA's (plaintiff) complaint to a non-employee, McDonald, at Affinity's (defendant) shared office suite; McDonald worked for a different company sharing the space and wasn't authorized to accept service for Affinity, though Affinity's president received the documents the same day. Affinity never answered, a default judgment was entered, and Affinity moved to vacate for improper service.
IssueFree
Whether service of process upon a corporation is effective if made upon a non-employee who is not authorized to accept process and unaware that he is doing so, even though the corporation timely receives actual notice.