Salts v. Estes

— We are asked in this case to determine if service of process upon a person who was merely looking after the defendant’s home in his absence was sufficient under our substitute service of process statute, RCW 4.28.080(15). RCW 4.28.080(15) has remained essentially untouched by the Legislature since it was enacted in 1893. What the Legislature has not seen fit to do — change the wording of the statute — we decline to do by judicial proclamation in the guise of liberal construction. The language of RCW 4.28.080(15), permitting service of process at the defendant’s usual abode with a person of…