Alternate Service Allowed Upon Foreign Corporation

Posted: July 1, 2026 / Written by: Jeffrey M. Eilender, Thomas A. Kissane, Samuel L. Butt, Joshua Wurtzel, Channing J. Turner / Category Service of Process

Alternate Service Allowed Upon Foreign Corporation

On May 9, 2026, Justice Andrea Masley of the New York County Commercial Division granted a motion for leave to effect alternate service under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (“FSIA”, 28 U.S.C. §1608(b)(3)(C)). The case is Phillips Petroleum Company Venezuela Limited v. Petroleos De Venezuela, S.A., Index No. 659128/2025.

The parties had entered a settlement agreement that defined agreed means of service upon defendants Petroleos de Venezuela, S.A, PDVSA Petroleo, S.A, and Corpoguanipa S.A. After undertaking such service and failing to receive confirmation of delivery, plaintiff made, and documented, additional efforts to serve through email and courier upon numerous representatives of the defendants, as well as defendants’ legal counsel in other actions pending in the United States District Courts for the Southern District of New York and the District of Delaware. When these generally resulted in failures of delivery or rejection for want of authorization to accept service, plaintiff moved for an order finding the service attempted sufficient under FSIA § 1608(b)(3).

Justice Masley found that, under these circumstances, 1) FSIA provides that alternate service can be authorized, “if reasonably calculated to give actual notice as directed by order of the court consistent with the law of the place where service is to be made”, Slip op., p. 2, and that 2) “service under § 1608(b)(3) can be satisfied by ‘technically faulty service as long as the defendants received adequate notice of the suit and are not prejudiced.’” Id., p. 4.

She concluded:

plaintiffs served defendants’ counsel in related matters and some of the service of defendants’ counsel for this litigation was also accepted. . . .Thus, service was effective under the “technically faulty service” standard.

Id.

Contact the Commercial Division Blog Committee at commercialdivisionblog@schlamstone.com if you or a client have questions concerning service of process.