Willhite v. RODRIGUEZ-CERA
Supreme Court of Colorado · 2012-04-23 · cited 213×
The case involved a personal injury lawsuit arising from a car accident, where plaintiff Rex Willhite sought to serve defendant Paulo Rodriguez-Cera, who resided in Mexico, by substituted service on his sister in Colorado under Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f) after failed attempts at personal service. The trial court initially allowed the substituted service but later quashed it, ruling that C.R.C.P. 4(d) required service on a foreign defendant to follow the Hague Service Convention, an international treaty to which both the U.S. and Mexico are parties. On review, the Colorado Supreme Court held that C.R.C.P. 4(d) does not mandate international service as the exclusive method and does not prohibit substituted service within the United States when otherwise authorized. The Court reasoned that substituted service under Rule 4(f) does not require transmitting documents abroad, so the Hague Convention is not implicated, and it reinstated the substituted service order while remanding for further proceedings. The opinion addresses civil procedure rules for service in cases involving out-of-country defendants.