The kids’ parents had a homeowner’s policy. The policy isn’t nearly big enough to cover all the damage, mostly to the apartment complex itself, but also to some of the twelve or so people living in the apartments. So the insurer filed an interpleader action, and of course Jerome’s partnership is a defendant.
Anyway, he gets home, and it turns out the dog is still upset about the mailman coming to the door. This dog is a major menace, or it thinks it is.
Jerome is telling us this story, and he says, “and I tried to explain it to the dog, but it wouldn’t calm down.” We all broke out in uncontrollable laughter. We imagined Jerome explaining to the dog:
You see, Bloodbath, I’m the agent for service of process for Slumlords R Us, Ltd., which is a limited partnership organized for the purpose of operating an apartment complex. When we registered the partnership, we gave my home address as the address for me as agent for service of process. You, see, Bloodbath, there was a fire at the apartments last year. It turns out that the fire was the responsibility of two juveniles. The juveniles’ parents had a homeowner’s insurance policy under which all family members residing in the household were deemed to be insured for purposes of the negligence liability portion of the policy. Are you getting this, Bloodbath? Anyway, the insurers have filed an Interpleader action under Rule 22, which requires them to serve everyone who may have a claim against the insurance proceeds with process under Rule 4. They chose to serve me by certified mail, return receipt requested, which required service to be had on me personally, because the Rules require restricted delivery . . .
I started doing my imitation of Jerome explaining the legal technicalities to the dog. People were laughing out loud. Even Jerome enjoyed a chuckle.
And that’s what passes for fun in a law firm.