March 2, 2022 – Partner Joseph Kaiser secures dismissal for his client in the State Court of DeKalb County in a lawsuit which arose out of an automobile accident in January 2019. In that case, the Plaintiff was a passenger in a vehicle driven by Mr. Kaiser’s client. The accident occurred when another vehicle pulled out from a side street into their path. The Plaintiff alleged injuries and filed suit against Mr. Kaiser’s client and the driver of the other vehicle. Plaintiff filed suit in January 2021 but failed to serve Mr. Kaiser’s client with the lawsuit. Mr. Kaiser filed a notice of Special Appearance and raised the appropriate legal defenses of service, jurisdiction and laches. Plaintiff still undertook no efforts to remedy his failure to serve Mr. Kaiser’s client and instead settled with the co-defendant and sought to dismiss them from the suit attempting to leave Mr. Kaiser’s client as the only named Defendant and then presented a settlement demand.
In September 2021, after plaintiff still had made no further efforts to serve Mr. Kaiser’s client, Mr. Kaiser filed a Motion to Dismiss. Plaintiff opposed the Motion and undertook a flurry of activity attempting to serve Mr. kaiser’s client which were unsuccessful. He argued that he filed the suit timely and had satisfied his diligence requirement. Mr. Kaiser disputed that, arguing that service had still not been perfected and Plaintiff’s activity in attempting to serve the Defendant all took place over 9 months after the statue of limitations expired. And did not explain why he had done nothing to try to serve the Defendant until 9 months after the statute of limitations expired.
The Court called the matter for oral argument and following oral argument, Judge Ana Maria Martinez of the State Court of DeKalb County entered an Order dismissing Mr. Kaiser’s client with prejudice.
The Case is Mekeila Hill v. Jared Johnson and Warren D. Jagger
State Court of DeKalb County, CAFN: 21A00100
