When you file a lawsuit, you need to serve the complaint on the defendant. Then, you need to file what’s called a “proof of service” with the court, to prove that you’ve served the defendant. The court will normally schedule a hearing to make sure this has been done. In theory, the plaintiff has thirty days to serve all of the defendants.
I had to file a lawsuit for one of my clients in Stinking Bakersfield, because he lives in Kern County. So I need to serve all of the defendants. I filed a statement of my progress (4 out of 5 defendants served, the next one to get served next week) and asked that the hearing be taken off calendar. Not only did the court in Stinking Bakersfield say “no,” the judge also said I had to make my appearance in person and could not phone in the appearance to tell the judge that yes, indeed, my process server will get that last defendant served next week.
It’s a 90-mile drive from the Rented Mansion In The Desert to Stinking Bakersfield. And if you’ve never been there, let me assure you that Stinking Bakersfield is the beauty spot of California. Keep your Yosemite, your San Francisco, your Big Sur and your Santa Barbara. I don’t need no San Diego or Death Valley or none of your boring old Sierra Nevada mountains. No, I can go to Stinking Bakersfield in an easy, two-hour drive through the desert, and see things like this:
Eat your heart out, Tennesseans!
I have felt your pain several times over the past year, driving through the Tehachapis at 6:30 a.m. for Orders to Show Cause re service and other trivial matters. Why does Bakersfield do this? Is it that they think getting an OSC scheduled is a sign of poor character, and they want to punish us with a trip to Kern County? Or, are they in cahoots with the Economic Development Department to drum up tourism, and their courthouse is the biggest lure they’ve got?