MELCHI DEVELOPMENT GROUP, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
BERKY DEVELOPMENT GROUP, LLC, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Service on a registered agent's receptionist is valid if the receptionist is designated to accept service for the corporation.
Melchi Development Group, Inc. appeals a denial of its motion to set aside a default judgment, arguing defective service of process. The return of ser…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Presumption Of Valid Service cases and more on FLexlaw
[*408] PLEUS, C.J.
Melchi Development Group, Inc. (Mel-ehi), appeals from a nonfinal order denying its motion to set aside a default and quash summons. It claims that service on its registered agent was defective.1 We disagree and affirm.
“A return of service, which is regular on its face, is presumed valid unless clear and convincing evidence is presented to the contrary.” Emmer v. Bru-cato, 813 So. 2d 264, 266 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002). The defaulting party has the burden to overcome the presumption of valid service by proving with clear and convincing evidence that service was invalid. Id.
In the instant case, the return of service stated that the summons and complaint were served upon “Ana Barboza, receptionist designated to accept for Spie-gel & Utrera, P.A. as Registered Agent of the within named corporation, in compliance with state statutes.” The trial court concluded that service was valid because the return indicated that Ana Barboza was designated to accept service for Melchi. It found further that Melchi had the burden to show that Barboza was not designated to accept service for Melchi but failed to do so. Based upon the record before us, we agree with this conclusion and affirm the order below.
AFFIRMED.
SAWAYA and PALMER, JJ., concur. . Melchi also attacks the form of the summons but we reject this argument without further discussion.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Re-Employment Servs., Ltd. v. Nat'l Loan Acquisitions Co., 969 So. 2d 467 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)…gular on its face, then the service of process is presumed to be valid and the party challenging service has the burden of overcoming that presumption by clear and convincing evidence. Id. at 769; Melchi Dev. Group, Inc. v. Berky Dev. Group, L.L.C., 918 So. 2d 407 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006); Telf Corp. v. Gomez, 671 So. 2d 818 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996). However, if the return is defective on its face, it cannot be relied upon as evidence that the service of process was valid. Klosenski, 116 So. 2d at 769; Gonzalez v. Total…
-
Beneficial Fla., Inc. v. Washington, 965 So. 2d 1211 (Fla. 5th DCA 2007)…, 671 So. 2d 818, 818 (Fla. 3d DCA 1996). The defaulting party has the burden to overcome the presumption of valid service by establishing with clear and convincing evidence that service was invalid. Melchi Dev. Group, Inc. v. Berky Dev. Group, LLC, 918 So. 2d 407, 408 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006); Emmer, 813 So. 2d at 265; Aboudraah v. Tartus Group, Inc., 795 So. 2d 79, 80 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000). The trial court should have held an evi-dentiary hearing in order to insure adequate consideration of the disputed facts rel…
Authorities Cited
- Emmer v. Brucato, 813 So. 2d 264 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002)