Process server in Inyo County

No. On-Call Legal’s contact page lists offices in Sacramento, Glendale, Irvine, Century City and Los Angeles; none is in Inyo County. An Inyo assignment starts from the papers the clerk issues under Local Rule 6.5, meaning the summons, the conference notice and the two blank forms. What comes back is a POS-010, signed under penalty of perjury, listing each document served and each visit, the unanswered knocks included. The lack of a local office moves none of the dates set by the court’s rules or by statute.

Both clerk’s offices take them. The court’s Civil Division page lists Independence, at 168 North Edwards Street, and Bishop, at 301 West Line Street, with the same counter hours, 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with the hour from noon closed, and each location page lists all case types as served there. Local Rule 2.3 places the clerk’s offices in Departments 1 and 3 in Independence and Department 4 in Bishop, and the local rules draw no civil filing line between the two buildings. Papers that cannot be eFiled can also go in by drop box or by mail, and an eFiled document reaches the same court whichever building later hears the matter.

Local Rule 6.4.1(b) makes mediation mandatory, unless there is good cause to dispense with it, in two groups: unlimited civil cases where the amount in controversy is $50,000 or less for each plaintiff, and any civil action in which a public agency or public entity is a party, child support cases excepted. Other cases can be referred after review at the case management conference under subdivision (c). That is why Local Rule 6.6(a) puts a blank Stipulation to Participate in Mediation in with the summons, and why Local Rule 6.9 has parties under the mandatory referral file the completed stipulation with their CM-110. Named parties and their trial counsel attend the session unless excused.

Local Rule 6.6(b) requires the complaint to be served and a proof of service filed within sixty days of filing. When that does not happen, subdivision (c) lets the court issue an order to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed, and responsive papers have to be filed and served five days before that hearing. The count restarts once: if the complaint is voluntarily amended for the first time under section 472 before the defendant answers, the sixty days run from the amended complaint. The statewide limits still sit alongside it, with rule 3.110(b) of the California Rules of Court asking for proofs within 60 days and section 583.210 allowing three years to serve.

Local Rule 6.7(b) gives the plaintiff ten days after the statutory time to respond runs out to request entry of default. Missing it brings an order to show cause why sanctions should not be imposed. Once the request is filed, the court sets and notices a default hearing, and in a suitable case a declaration under section 585 can be submitted in place of an appearance. In a case with several defendants, subdivision (d) lets the default hearing wait until the case against all responding defendants is over. The proof of service fixes when the time to respond began, so the date and manner of service on it have to be exact.

The conference date falls within 150 days of filing (Local Rule 6.5(b)), and Local Rule 6.10(c)(1) lets the court dismiss defendants who have not appeared and have no default entered against them, served or not, Doe defendants excepted. For good cause the court can keep them in the case and set a date by which they have to be served. Counsel for each appearing party attend, in person or by telephone if that was arranged with the Calendar Clerk at least two days ahead and confirmed in writing, and each files and serves a CM-110 at least five court days before. A good cause showing for a defendant still being looked for rests on the record of each attempt.

Under Local Rule 12.4, nothing sent electronically is filed until the clerk accepts it. Once accepted, anything that arrived at any hour of a court day takes that day’s filing date, and anything that arrived on a non-court day is filed the next court day; the court sends a confirmation with both the time received and the time filed. Rejections come back through the provider with a reason, and the court’s eFiling page names the usual ones: several documents combined into one PDF, a wrong document name or case number, the wrong payment type or case category.

Often, yes. Section 1010.6 requires counsel who have appeared to accept electronic service of anything that could otherwise go by mail, express mail, overnight delivery or fax, and an unrepresented party can consent, by a filed notice or through the court’s provider along with an electronic address. Local Rule 12.9 asks each party who elects electronic filing and service to give that address the first time it files electronically, and to report a new one on form EFS-010. Electronic service extends most response periods by two court days. It never reaches the summons, and it is not allowed for a document that has to be served by certified or registered mail.

No. Local Rule 12.3(c) lists an ex parte application submitted together with a new complaint or petition among the documents the court will not accept electronically, so that combination goes in on paper at a clerk’s office. Once a case exists, the eFiling system still sets no ex parte hearing by itself: the court’s eFiling page asks filers to reserve a date with the court, and Local Rule 5.2 says the court keeps no regular ex parte calendar, with the date, time and place given by the Calendar Clerk or the Court’s Administrator. At a minimum, notice has to meet rule 3.1203 of the California Rules of Court, and Local Rule 5.2 does not cover domestic violence or civil harassment orders.

No, according to its civil fee schedule, which states that no weekend or evening services are provided. The civil office at 550 South Clay Street in Independence charges $50 per person for a summons and complaint, eviction summonses included, keeps its fee whether or not service succeeds, wants original instructions with an extra copy for its file, and handles papers in the order received. That schedule bears on diligence. Section 415.20 in its current form names no number of attempts, while from January 1, 2027 the statute accepts three good-faith attempts, on three separate days and at three separate hours, as reasonable diligence, and a registered process server can spread attempts across evenings and weekends too.

No. Local Rule 2.7(b), citing rule 2.956 of the California Rules of Court, lists all unlawful detainer hearings among the matters where the court supplies no reporter, along with civil law and motion, civil trials, small claims and name changes, and Local Rule 6.17 says the same for general civil cases. A party who wants a record arranges a reporter at its own expense, and a party with a fee waiver can ask for an official reporter under rule 2.956(b)(3). Where the law allows, the court may use electronic recording when no reporter is available. The tenant’s time to respond comes from section 1167: ten days after service, weekends and judicial holidays not counted.

With the Inyo County Clerk-Recorder at 168 N. Edwards Street in Independence, not with the court. Business and Professions Code section 22350 sends a server to the clerk of the county holding the server’s home or principal place of business. The Clerk-Recorder’s 2026 schedule charges $100 for the registration, the recording fee for the bond, and $10 for each additional ID card, with the Department of Justice fingerprint fee on top when a check is required; the schedule published for 2027 keeps the registration fee at $100. The bond is $2,000 under section 22353, or a cash deposit of the same amount. The Sheriff takes Live Scan prints in Independence by appointment.