Nat'l Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh v. Superior Court of S.F.

Petitioners seek a writ of mandate requiring respondent court, in an action filed therein by real party in interest, to make its order (1) quashing service of summons upon petitioners for failure to comply with the provisions of Code of Civil Procedure section 410 and (2) dismissing said action as to them for failure to effectively serve the summons therein within three years after the commencement of said action, as provided by section 581a of said code.

The named defendants in said action are petitioner National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh, a corporation, and three other corporations. The remaining defendants are fictitiously named as “Does One to Sixteen.”

The service under inquiry was made by delivering a copy of the summons and a copy of the complaint to petitioner Bert W. Coyle, a vice-president of petitioner National Union. Coyle was told at the time of such service that he was being served in such capacity and the return of service is so worded.

Real party in interest makes no claim that such service was effective upon Coyle as an individual (see Code Civ. Proc., § 474) and adds that Coyle is not and was never intended to be a party to the action. While…