§ 51–105. Service of process on nonresident employers.

Any nonresident employer, for whom services constituting employment subject to this subchapter are performed, shall be deemed to have appointed the Director of the Department of Transportation of the District of Columbia as his true and lawful attorney upon whom may be served all processes in any action or proceedings against such nonresident arising out of, or incident to, this subchapter, and said employment shall be a signification that any such process against him served, as herein provided, shall have the same effect and validity as if served on him personally in the District of Columbia. Service of such process shall be made by leaving a copy thereof (with a fee of $2) in the hands of the Director of the Department of Transportation of the District of Columbia, or other persons in charge of his office, and such service shall be sufficient service upon such nonresident; provided, that notice of such service and a copy of the process are forthwith sent, by registered mail, by the plaintiff to the defendant and the defendant’s return receipt attached to the writ and entered with the initial pleading. The court in which the action is pending may order such extensions as may be necessary to afford the defendant a reasonable opportunity to defend the action, and no judgment by default in any such action shall be granted until at least 20 days shall have elapsed after the notice of such service has been sent to the defendant as hereinabove prescribed.

(Aug. 28, 1935, 49 Stat. 949, ch. 794, § 5; June 4, 1943, 57 Stat. 111, ch. 117, § 1.)

Prior Codifications

1981 Ed., § 46-106.

1973 Ed., § 46-305.

Section References

This section is referenced in § 51-106.

Editor's Notes

Department of Vehicles and Traffic abolished: The Department of Vehicles and Traffic, including the Director, was abolished and the functions thereof transferred to the Board of Commissioners of the District of Columbia by Reorganization Plan No. 5 of 1952. Reorganization Order No. 54 of the Board of Commissioners, dated June 30, 1953, as amended September 1, 1953, established a Department of Vehicles and Traffic, headed by a Director, a Board of Revocation and Review of Hackers’ Identification Cards, a Motor Vehicle Parking Agency, and a Commissioners’ Traffic Advisory Board; prescribed the functions thereof; and abolished the previously existing Department of Vehicles and Traffic, the Registrar of Titles and Tags, the Board of Revocation and Review of Hackers’ Identification Cards, the Driver Improvement Section, and the Motor Vehicle Parking Agency. Reorganization Order No. 54 was repealed and replaced by Organization Order Nos. 105, 106, 107, and 108, dated May 17, 1955. Organization Order No. 105 continued the Department of Vehicles and Traffic and prescribed the functions thereof. The Department of Vehicles and Traffic was redesignated as the Department of Motor Vehicles by Commissioners’ Order No. 58-919, dated June 10, 1958. The Department of Highways was replaced by Reorganization Order No. 58-1116, dated July 15, 1958, which Order established the Department of Highways and Traffic. The executive functions of the Board of Commissioners were transferred to the Commissioner of the District of Columbia by § 401 of Reorganization Plan No. 3 of 1967. Reorganization Plan No. 2 of 1975 combined the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Department of Highways and Traffic to form the Department of Transportation.

The functions of the Department of Transportation were transferred to the Department of Public Works by Reorganization Plan No. 4 of 1983, effective March 1, 1984.