Complaint Dismissed Due To Failure of Plaintiff To Conduct Good Faith Effort at Service of Process

In the case of Gussom v. Teagle, April Term 2018, No. 03821 (C.P. Phila. Co. Jan. 3, 2019 Patrick, J.), the court granted a Defendant’s Preliminary Objections seeking the dismissal of a Plaintiff’s Complaint for failure to complete service before the expiration of the statute of limitations.  

This matter arose out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on July 26, 2016.   The Plaintiff filed a Complaint against the Defendant on April 26, 2018.   The Plaintiff was unable to complete service at the Defendant’s last known address in Philadelphia.  According to the Affidavit of Non-Service, the occupant of the last known address stated that the Defendant had relocated to Virginia.  

Several months later on August 22, 2018, which was after the expiration of the statute of limitations, the Plaintiff filed a Praecipe to Reinstate the Complaint. The defense responded with Preliminary Objections to the Complaint that was then filed in September of 2018.  

The Plaintiff did not respond to the Preliminary Objections. Instead the Plaintiff filed another Praecipe to Reinstate the Complaint in September of 2018.

The court sustained the Defendant’s Preliminary Objections in October of 2018, dismissing the Plaintiff’s Complaint in its entirety.   Two days later, the Plaintiff filed a Motion for Reconsideration which was also denied.  

The court reviewed Pennsylvania law requiring a good faith effort to complete service once an action was commenced.   The court found, in its sound discretion, that, under the facts presented, the Plaintiff’s inaction demonstrated an intent to stall the judicial machinery that the Plaintiff had set in motion.  

More specifically, the court pointed to the fact that, after the Plaintiff’s unsuccessful attempt to serve the Defendant at his last known address, there were no further efforts by the Plaintiff to locate and serve the Defendant.   The court also faulted the Plaintiff for not attempting to serve the Defendant by alternative means.   The court additionally noted that the two (2) Praecipes to Reinstate the matter were not filed timely.   

The court also noted that the Plaintiff did not file an Affidavit of the eventual completion of service until after the court had already sustained the Defendant’s Preliminary Objections.   The court found that, overall, the Plaintiff had failed to act in good faith in the efforts to complete service.  

The court also rejected the Plaintiff’s Motion for Reconsideration as no new facts or evidence were presented that would excuse the Plaintiff’s lack of a good faith effort to complete service on the Defendant prior to the expiration of the statue of limitations. 

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Source: “Digest of Recent Opinions.” Pennsylvania Law Weekly (Jan. 29, 2019).