§ 413.40.Service In Compliance With Chapter Made By Person In Violation of Chapter 16, Division 8, Business and Professions Code

Section 413.40 separates the validity of service from the licensing status of the person who performed it. Any service of summons that complies with this chapter is not rendered invalid or ineffective because it was made by a person who violated Chapter 16 (commencing with § 22350) of Division 8 of the Business and Professions Code — the statute governing licensed process servers.

In practice, this protects a plaintiff whose service was otherwise properly carried out from having it thrown out on the technical ground that the server was not licensed or violated some licensing requirement. Section 417.40 separately requires proof of service by a registered process server to identify the server’s county of registration and registration number, but a failure on the server’s part to comply with the licensing law does not, by itself, undo service that otherwise met this chapter’s requirements.