Plaintiff Should Have Been Granted Extension to Serve Summons and Complaint Three Days After 120-Day Period Expired
The Second Department determined plaintiff should have been granted an extension of time to serve the summons and complaint where the statute of limitations ran out between the commencement of the action and the service. The Second Department further determined that service of one copy of the summons and complaint upon an officer of defendant corporation (MBRI) was valid for both the corporation and the officer:
The defendants contend that MBRI was never served with a copy of the summons and complaint. We disagree. Service of one copy of a summons and complaint upon an officer of a corporation constitutes service upon the corporation itself as well as upon the individual officer, where, as here, there was simultaneous compliance with CPLR 311(a)(1) and CPLR 308(1) … .Here, MBRI was served pursuant to CPLR 311(a)(1) when the plaintiff’s process server delivered the summons and complaint to the individual defendant, an officer of MBRI. Accordingly, the method employed to serve MBRI was proper and, thus, that branch of the defendants’ cross motion which was pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(8) to dismiss the complaint insofar as asserted against MBRI for lack of personal jurisdiction should have been denied.
In this case, where the statute of limitations expired between the time that the action was commenced and the time that the copy of the summons and complaint was served, that branch of the plaintiff’s motion which was pursuant to CPLR 306-b to extend the time to serve the summons and complaint upon MBRI nunc pro tunc to September 11, 2011, should have been granted in the interest of justice … . The copy of the summons and complaint was served only 3 days after the 120-day time period of CPLR 306-b had expired, the plaintiff promptly sought relief after receiving the answer, and there was no demonstrable prejudice to MBRI attributable to the delay in service … . Fernandez v Morales Bros Realty Inc, 2013 NY Slip Op 06345, 2nd Dept 10-2-13