Rubies II, LLC v. Quanzhou Heng Kai Bag Co. Ltd.

HONORABLE RICHARD A. JONES

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 11 WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT SEATTLE RUBIE’S COSTUME COMPANY, INC., Plaintiff, 14 Case No. 18-cv-01531-RAJ v. 15 ORDER GRANTING IN PART AND DENYING IN PART LUO LI JIANG, et. al, 16 PLAINTIFF’S MOTION FOR ALTERNATIVE SERVICE Defendant.

This matter comes before the Court on Plaintiff Rubie’s Costume Company, Inc.’s (“Rubie’s”) Motion for Authorization for Electronic Service of Process (“Motion”). Dkt. # 20. The Court has reviewed the Motion and supporting documents, and the remainder of the record. The Court finds that alternative service, as indicated below, is permitted as to some Defendants given the circumstances of this case, where the foreign defendants are likely residing in China and plaintiff has been unable to ascertain physical addresses for service after a reasonable effort. See, e.g., Rubie’s Costume Company, Inc. v. Yiwu Hua Hoa Toys Co., Ltd., 2:18-cv-01530-RAJ (W.D. Wash. Nov. 25, 2019), Dkt. No. 22; Keck v. Alibaba.com, Inc., 2018 WL 3632160, at *3–4 (N.D. Cal. July 31, 2018); Microsoft Corp. v. Gameest Int’l Network Sales Co., 2017 WL 4517103, at *2-3 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 10, 2017); Chanel, Inc. v. Lin, 2010 WL 2557503, at *3 n.3 (N.D. Cal. May 7, 2010); Williams-Sonoma Inc. v. Friendfinder Inc., 2007 WL 1140639, at *2 (N.D. Cal. Apr. 17, 2007). Rubie’s has also identified physical addresses in China for three defendants and failed to demonstrate that they are elusive or otherwise striving to evade service of process. Rio Properties, Inc. v. Rio Intern. Interlin, 284 F.3d 1007, 1014 (9th Cir. 2002) (plaintiff must demonstrate that the facts and circumstances of the present case necessitated the district court’s intervention for alternative service of process). From the record, it does not appear that Rubie’s has attempted service on these defendants at all.

10 Dkt. # 21, ¶¶ 7, 8, 15.

11 Given the above, the Court GRANTS in part and DENIES in part Rubie’s Motion for Authorization for Electronic Service of Process. The Court also GRANTS Rubie’s leave to file a Second Amended Complaint. See Fed. R. Civ. P. 15(a). Rubie’s has leave under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f)(3) to serve Defendants Luo Li Jiang, Bai Jiang, Feng Huang, Dongyuan Deng, Xia Ya Qin, Xia Bu with the Second Amended Complaint, the Summons, and this Order by the following unique email addresses and Amazon Seller Accounts as indicated below: Defendant Amazon.com Seller Account Email Address Luo Li Jiang “HEYMA” [email protected] 2 (A2ZZZPMHYOI9NN) Bai Jiang “HEYMA” [email protected] (A2ZZZPMHYOI9NN) Feng Huang “AOSKA” [email protected] 5 (A2G6UEBMPDG0CB) Dongyuan Deng “GoPrime.online-shop” [email protected] (A2NKKAP3SFL0N0) Xia Ya Qin “XONOR-US” [email protected] 8 (A1IBZ2YQ3N7KD1) [email protected] Xia Bu “BOBOO” (A3JOORNG3JX4WR) [email protected] 11 S uch service shall be made no later than 14 days from the date of this Order.

13 DATED this 25th day of November, 2019.

15 A 17 The Honorable Richard A. Jones United States District Judge