Amy Wrany and Ashley Johnson v. El Paso County, Colorado, by and through its Board of Commissioners, El Paso County Department of Human Services, Office of the Child’s Representative, Executive Director of the Office of Child’s Representative, in his or her official capacity, Jessica Driver, Cody Christian, Kevin Major, and Lesha Delaney

Summary

The United States District Court for the District of Colorado denied without prejudice several motions seeking alternate service on Defendant Cody Christian, concluding that Plaintiffs had not shown sufficient due diligence, futility of further personal-service attempts, or a suitable substitute recipient. The court granted in part Plaintiffs’ request for an extension and extended the service deadline to March 16, 2026, warning that failure to serve Christian could result in a recommendation of dismissal.

Holdings

1. The court denied Plaintiffs’ motions for substituted service because they did not identify a substituted person authorized to receive service on Christian’s behalf and did not demonstrate that Christian could receive actual notice through the proposed email address.
2. Plaintiffs did not demonstrate sufficient due diligence or the futility of further personal-service attempts because all attempts were directed to one workplace address over a relatively short period, with no documented effort to locate other addresses.
3. The court found good cause to grant Plaintiffs one final extension of time to serve Cody Christian, extending the deadline through March 16, 2026.

Questions Presented

1. Whether Plaintiffs satisfied Colorado Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f) so that the court could authorize substituted service on Cody Christian by email alone.
2. Whether Plaintiffs demonstrated due diligence and futility of further personal-service attempts.
3. Whether good cause supported extending the time for Plaintiffs to serve Cody Christian under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(m).

Disposition

other