Brockmeyer v. May

Ronald Brockmeyer owned Eromedia (collectively, Brockmeyer) (plaintiffs). Brockmeyer owned a trademark under which he published adult-entertainment media. Brockmeyer sued Marquis Publications, Ltd. (Marquis) (defendant), a British company, and others in federal district court in New York for trademark infringement and related claims. Brockmeyer made two attempts to serve Marquis. First, Brockmeyer sent the summons and complaint by first-class mail to a post office box in England with a request for a waiver of service. Marquis did not respond. The case was transferred to a federal district court in California. The California court ordered Brockmeyer to show cause for why the case should not be dismissed for lack of prosecution and established a deadline. Four days before the deadline, Brockmeyer again tried to serve process by sending the summons and complaint, this time without the waiver of service, to the same post office box in England. Marquis again failed to respond. The district court entered default and default judgment against Marquis. Marquis moved to set aside the default judgment, arguing in part that international service by mail must be sent as certified or registered mail. The district court denied Marquis’s motion, holding that mail service was not prohibited by the Hague Convention (the convention) and that ordinary first-class mail was sufficient. Marquis appealed the district court’s denial of its motion to set aside the default judgment.