A person named and served as an unknown defendant has the same rights as are provided by law in cases of all other defendants named and served, and the action shall proceed against unknown defendants in the same manner as against other defendants named and served, and with the same effect.
§ 762.070.Rights of Person Named and Served As Unknown Defendant
Title 10. Actions In Particular Cases · Chapter 4. Quiet Title · Article 3. Defendants · Enacted 1980 · no amendments on record · Last verified July 28, 2026
In one sentenceSection 762.070 gives a person named and served as an unknown defendant the same rights as any other served defendant, and requires the action to proceed against that person the same way it proceeds against defendants named and served by their actual identities.
Full Text of § 762.070
Plain-English Summary
Suing someone as “all persons unknown” doesn't put that person in a lesser procedural position once they're found and served. This section says a defendant named and served as an unknown defendant has exactly the same rights the law gives to any other served defendant.
The action itself proceeds against that unknown-turned-served defendant the same way it would against anyone named from the start, with the same effect. There's no separate, lesser track for defendants who started out as “all persons unknown” under § 762.060.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does a defendant served as one of the “unknown persons” have fewer rights than a named defendant?
No. Section 762.070 gives that person the same rights as any other defendant named and served in the action.
Does the case proceed differently against a formerly unknown defendant?
No. The action proceeds against that defendant the same way it does against any other served defendant, with the same effect.
Amendment History
Added by Stats. 1980, Ch. 44, Sec. 15.
Source & verification. Section text is reproduced verbatim from
the Deering's California Codes Annotated / vLex. Enacted by the California Legislature.
Last verified July 28, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: rights of unknown defendant quiet title california