Serving Papers To Larger Corporation. Who Do I Serve It To Locally and Where Can I find Them

November 12, 2011 1:26 PM

Filing a case in California Small Claims court versus large corporation on East Coast. How do I find a local representative to whom I can serve the papers.

I am filing a claim against Capitol One credit services for them to reimburse me for bank fees debited from my bank account due to a possible error on their part. Because they are a large corporation on East Coast along with my court being in the state of California, I also need to include a local representative in the filing and have the papers served to him/her.

Capitol One is not a bank. How can I find someone local who

1) Represents them
2) And who I can legally serve

posted by goalyeehah to Law & Government (8 answers total)

Capital One is a bank. It is a national association, so it will not have a registered agent in California to receive service of process. It does not have any branches in California, so there is no "local representative". You would want to find its legal office at its home base.
posted by megatherium at 1:33 PM on November 12, 2011

Best answer: You might try this blog which lists bank addresses for service of subpoenas to various banks. You also might want to consult a local attorney in your area who can advise you on valid methods of service in the applicable jurisdiction.
posted by Dr. Zira at 1:43 PM on November 12, 2011

Best answer: You could always try http://www.weservecapitalone.com/home.html

its a service of process agency called State Process Services.
posted by Ironmouth at 2:26 PM on November 12, 2011

Do a corporate search to find out their registered and records office. Check the service rules for small claims court and see whether you serve by registered mail. In some jurisdictions mailing the pleadings by registered mail to the corporate office is sufficient.
posted by Pomo at 3:19 PM on November 12, 2011

When I filed a small claim, they had a paper directory of corporate registered agents. Maybe your clerk's office does too.
posted by evariste at 5:58 PM on November 12, 2011

Corporations doing business in California are generally required to identify how you can serve them with a filing with the California Secretary of State. Here is the website: http://kepler.sos.ca.gov/cbs.aspx. No guarantees, but it should be there.
posted by jabberjaw at 8:02 PM on November 12, 2011

They will likely have a registered agent in California. I do not see how they could not.
posted by Ironmouth at 7:48 AM on November 13, 2011

^ They do, I don't want to give out legal advice on this kind of stuff, though. There could be a lot of pitfalls. The actual corporate entity you are serving is one issue; banks operate through a bunch of separate corporate entities, and you might need to find the correct one. Also, if you look on the website, there are a lot of weird "Capital One" entities that do not appear to be related to the bank. The actual registered agent should be listed through the site I provided, if the information has been updated online, and if you have the right entity name. That website is the first place a number of California lawyers go to in order to determine who to serve a complaint on.

Most big corporations are very easy to serve, because they tend to use CSC as their registered agent, but I can't tell if the Capital One you want to sue uses this company as their registered agent without more information.
posted by jabberjaw at 10:14 AM on November 13, 2011