Beware Of Serving Process on A Post Office Box

Under Florida law, process against a limited liability company is served by serving its registered agent.  F.S. §48.062(1).  Some companies use a private mailbox as the address for the registered agent.  Under Florida law, when someone commences a lawsuit, the summons and complaint may be served at the private mailbox, but only in limited circumstances, one of which is that the only address for the company that is discoverable through public records is the mailbox address.  Recently, DBR Law, P.A. obtained an order vacating a judgment against a corporate client which was completely unaware that it had been served with a summons and complaint.  The mailbox service never delivered the documents to the corporate client.  DBR Law, P.A, was able to demonstrate that the company’s registered agent – who had an unusual name – owned property and resided in the county, and that fact was easily discoverable through public records.  In addition, the plaintiff had contacted the corporate client directly with another complaint and easily could have reached out to the company directly.