(a) Before an applicant is issued a license, the applicant shall file with the commissioner, in such form as the commissioner may require, an appointment irrevocably appointing the commissioner to be the applicant’s or licensee’s attorney, to receive service of any lawful process in any noncriminal judicial or administrative proceeding against the applicant or licensee, or any of its successors, that arises under this division or under any regulation or order issued under this division after such appointment has been filed, with the same force and validity as if served personally on the applicant, licensee, or successor.
(b) Service may be made by leaving a copy of the process at any office of the commissioner, but that service is not effective unless (1) the party making that service, who may be the commissioner, sends notice of service and a copy of the process by registered or certified mail to the party served at its last address on file with the commissioner, and (2) an affidavit of compliance with this section by the party making service is filed in the case on or before the return date, if any, or within such further time as the court, in the case of a judicial proceeding, or the administrative agency, in the case of an administrative proceeding, allows.
(Added by Stats. 2018, Ch. 379, Sec. 9. (AB 38) Effective January 1, 2019.)