Live Well Financial, Inc. v. Cardona-Alicea, 3:16-cv-02397

Live Well Financial filed a mortgage-foreclosure action and sought service by publication after failing to personally serve defendants Juan Cardona-Alicea, Milagros De Los Angeles Echeandía-De Cardona, and their conjugal partnership.
The Court previously denied plaintiff’s first motion for service by publication because plaintiff had not made the “pertinent attempts” required by Puerto Rico Rule of Civil Procedure 4.6.
The process server had visited the defendants’ house several times; the property appeared uninhabited or under construction, and a neighbor said defendants had moved to a nursing home while their sons repaired the house.
The Court suggested concrete follow-up steps (contact nursing homes, leave written messages for the sons, use loan paperwork contacts), which plaintiff failed to undertake.
Plaintiff submitted a new “Negative Affidavit of Service” recounting only two additional visits and poorly described notes left; the affidavit gave inconsistent, vague information about contacts with neighbors and calls.
The Court concluded plaintiff still had not made sufficiently vigorous, pertinent attempts to locate and personally serve defendants and denied the renewed motion for service by publication; it also ordered proof of proper service on the United States or a showing of good cause under Rule 4(m).

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether service by publication under P.R. R. Civ. P. 4.6 is authorized	Service by publication is necessary because personal service is not practicable after multiple attempts	(Implicit) Personal service has not been sufficiently attempted; publication premature	Denied — plaintiff did not make the “pertinent attempts” Rule 4.6 requires
Whether plaintiff’s additional process-server efforts satisfied "pertinent attempts" requirement	Two additional visits and leaving notes show further attempts	Notes and visits were insufficient, vague, and lacked follow-up on leads	Denied — affidavit too vague and efforts not sufficiently vigorous
Whether plaintiff adequately followed leads (nursing home, sons, loan contacts)	Plaintiff argued it made more attempts but did not detail follow-up steps	Defendants (via record) pointed to leads that plaintiff did not pursue	Held plaintiff failed to contact nursing homes, sons, or use available loan/contact info; more targeted efforts required
Whether plaintiff properly served the United States as required by Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(i)	Plaintiff must demonstrate timely service or good cause for failure	N/A (Court requirement)	Court ordered plaintiff, within 15 days, to show proper service on the U.S. or good cause or face dismissal as to the U.S.

Serra v. Banco Santander P.R., 747 F.3d 1 (1st Cir.) (state service rules may be used under Fed. R. Civ. P. 4(e)(1))
Senior Loiza Corp. v. Vento Dev. Corp., 760 F.2d 20 (1st Cir.) (Rule 4.6 construed strictly; publication is disfavored)
Pagán v. Rivera Burgos, 113 D.P.R. 750 (P.R.) (plaintiff must show vigorous steps and honest effort to effect personal service)