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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF MARYLAND LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY OF NORTH AMERICA : : v. : Civil Action No. DKC 2003-2126 : KAREN BATSON, et al. : MEMORANDUM OPINION Presently pending is the motion by Plaintiff Life Insurance Company of North America for alternative service of process and extension of time to serve process on Defendant Karen Batson. For the reasons that follow, the court will grant in part and deny in part Plaintiff's motion. Plaintiff previously had sought an entry of default and default judgment against Defendant, on the ground that Defendant had failed to answer the complaint. attempted to serve On Defendant 20, at Plaintiff unsuccessfully in Maryland denied and that

addresses this

California.

November

2003,

court

motion, finding that Plaintiff had failed to effect proper service of process pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(e)(2).1 separate dates in January 2004, a private process On four server

Service of process on an individual defendant properly may be effected either by personal delivery or by leaving a copy of the summons and complaint at that individual's "dwelling house or usual place of abode with some person of suitable age and discretion then residing therein." Fed.R.Civ.P. 4(e)(2).

1

employed by Plaintiff attempted to serve Defendant at a more recent address in Kentucky, but those efforts also were to no avail. On the fourth attempt to serve process at the Kentucky

address, a neighbor informed the private process server that Defendant had moved away four months earlier. Plaintiff states

that it has been unable to locate a more recent address for Defendant than the Kentucky address. As a result, 4(e)(1) Plaintiff and now has Rule moved, pursuant to to

Fed.R.Civ.P.

Maryland

2-121(c),

serve

Defendant by: (1) mailing, via the Clerk of the Court, a copy of the summons and complaint by first-class mail to Defendant's purported last known address, in Kentucky; (2) posting a copy of the summons and complaint as near to that Kentucky address "as is practicable"; and (3) publishing for three weeks a notice of the summons and complaint in the local Kentucky newspaper. Paper 13 at

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