Christine Green v. William Garbarino

Matthew Bernstein (Central Florida) (D&O) Plaintiff filed a complaint on 05/19/2021 against a former director of a homeowners’ association for defamation. On 11/08/2021, we filed a Motion to Dismiss on behalf of the Insured for Lack of Service of Process pursuant to Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.070(j), which provides that the court, on its own initiative or on motion shall direct that service be effected within a specified time or shall dismiss the action without prejudice if service is not effectuated within 120 days after the filing of a complaint. Plaintiff argued that because she had emailed our firm a copy of the Complaint, this constituted service. The court disagreed and gave the Plaintiff an additional 60 days to serve the insured. The Plaintiff then attempted a few times to serve the Insured but the process server did so during normal business hours and because the Insured works a 9-5 job, service was never effectuated. We then renewed the Insured’s Motion to Dismiss on the basis that Plaintiff still hadn’t effective service and her last attempts were months ago. In late October 2022, the Court granted the Insured’s Renewed Motion to Dismiss without Prejudice.