Harold D. Bookout and Betty Houser v. Linda Lou Beck and Daniel L. Beck, by Their Guardian Ad Litem, Edith P. Beck

The district court’s final order refusing to vacate a judgment of appellees against appellants is reversed.

The Becks are citizens of California and Bookout and Houser are citizens of Indiana. They were involved in an automobile collision at Santa Rosa, New Mexico, in July, 1962. The Becks in September, 1962, elected to sue Bookout and Houser in the Northern District of California for their injuries. Diversity jurisdiction was pleaded. Initial “service” on Bookout and Houser was ob tained by a deputy United States marshal in Indiana handing copies of the summons and complaint to the two defendants in Indiana. Further, it would appear that counsel for Becks sent copies of the complaint and summons by registered mail to the secretaries of state of California and of New Mexico. California has a long-arm statute on motorists which permits service upon a defendant operator by sending the papers to the California director of motor vehicles. New Mexico has a similar statute, but requires the delivery of the papers to its secretary of state.

Thus, it may be seen that the Becks did not even comply with the routine of the California state statute when they delivered papers to the…