Serving Hollywood
How hard can it be to serve a person a summons or subpoena. I do it all the time. But serving a big Hollywood actor, might give you some trouble. They are usually jet-setting to different countries for shoots or vacation and the papers usually have a time limit. The attorneys who attempted service on James Franco could not effect service upon Mr. Franco.
The lawsuit arises from Jose Angel Santana, a former professor who sued Franco over allegedly “disparaging and inaccurate public statements” that the actor made against Santana after getting a “D” in his class in 2010.
Santana’s attorneys then tried to locate his home and found an address in Los Angeles. According to a filing from Michael Plonsker, one of the actor’s attorneys, a process server “threw some court papers on the ground in front of the residence.”
The problem was that it was the wrong address.
Franco’s attorneys asked the judge to dismiss the defamation lawsuit on the grounds that it didn’t have personal jurisdiction over him, and that he was prejudiced by the plaintiff’s attorneys’ failure to serve him properly and timely.
At a court hearing, the judge apparently agreed. Last week, the court entered a dismissal against Franco for lack of personal jurisdiction. That meant that Franco could show up at the Tribeca Film Festival, where he told the crowd he wanted to debut The Director, without the possibility that someone would try to hurl legal papers at his feet. Yes, that sort of thing happens from time to time at film and music festivals.