CARRIER TRANSICOLD v. SOUTHEAST APPRAISAL, A98A0431.

• Citation: 504 S.E.2d 25,233 Ga. App. 176
• Decision Date: 30 June 1998
• Docket Number: No. A98A0431.,A98A0431.
• Parties: CARRIER TRANSICOLD DIVISION v. SOUTHEAST APPRAISAL RESOURCE ASSOCIATES, INC.
• Court: United States Court of Appeals (Georgia)

504 S.E.2d 25

233 Ga. App. 176

CARRIER TRANSICOLD DIVISION v. SOUTHEAST APPRAISAL RESOURCE ASSOCIATES, INC.

No. A98A0431.

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

June 30, 1998.

Long, Weinberg, Ansley & Wheeler, Mary D. Owens, Carol P. Michel, Atlanta, for appellant.

Thomas P. Stamps, Atlanta, for appellee.

McMURRAY, Presiding Judge.

Carrier Corporation is a Delaware corporation registered to do business in Georgia, and its registered agent for service of process is C.T. Corporation System. Carrier Transicold Division is not a legal entity, but is a division of Carrier Corporation.

Plaintiff Southeast Appraisal Resource Associates, Inc. filed this action on an open account, naming as defendant Carrier Transicold Division. The complaint and summons were served on C.T. Corporation System as the registered agent for service, and the documents were returned to plaintiff's attorney with the explanation that C.T. Corporation System was not the registered agent for service for a company by the name of Carrier Transicold Division.

Pursuant to plaintiff's motion, default judgment was entered against Carrier Transicold Division. After Carrier Corporation learned of the default judgment, it entered a limited appearance to petition the state court to set aside the default judgment. The state court denied the motion to set aside judgment, and this Court granted Carrier Corporation's application seeking permission to file a discretionary appeal. Held:

"It is a fundamental tenet of due process that a defendant have notice of suit in accordance with law." Castellana v. Conyers Toyota, 200 Ga.App. 161, 162(1), 163, 407 S.E.2d 64. One of the alternative methods of providing such notice to a corporate defendant is by service on a registered agent. See OCGA § 9-11-4(d). The practical result of this statutory provision is the creation of a business, that is, the business of serving as registered agent. An entity in this business might serve as registered agent for any number of corporations. When such an entity is served with a lawsuit, it must determine if the named defendant is among its clients. If the named defendant is recognized as a client, the summons and complaint are forwarded to the client. This process is simple where the client is clearly named as defendant in a lawsuit. But the process can become more complex. "A corporation conducting business in a trade name may sue or be sued in the trade name. [Cits.]" John L. Hutcheson Mem. Tri-County Hosp. v. Oliver, 120 Ga.App. 547(1), 171 S.E.2d 649. Thus, the entity in the business of serving as registered agent must be prepared to recognize the trade names of its clients and also to recognize some misstatements of its clients names. See Miller v. U.S. Shelter Corp. of Delaware, 179 Ga.App. 469, 471-473(2, 3), 347 S.E.2d 251. "`A suit at law is not a children's game, but a serious effort on the part of adult human beings to administer justice; and the purpose of process is to bring parties into court. If it names them in such terms that every intelligent person understands who is meant, ... it has fulfilled its purpose; and courts should not put themselves in the position of failing to recognize what is apparent to everyone else.... "As a gen(e)ral rule the misnomer of a corporation in a notice, summons,...