(a) A driving school owner, or the principal in an all-terrain vehicle safety training organization, shall meet all of the following requirements:
(1) Maintain an established place of business open to the public. No office or place of business shall be situated within 500 feet of any building used by the department as an office, unless the owner was established at that location on or before January 1, 1976.
(2) Have the proper equipment necessary to give instruction in the operation of the class of vehicles for which the course is designed, which shall include, but not be limited to, training vehicles equipped with all of the following:
(A) An additional functional foot brake affixed to the right side of the front floor.
(B) A rearview mirror placed on the inside of the windshield on the right side, which is additional to the factory-installed mirror in the center of the windshield.
(3) Procure and file with the department a bond of ten thousand dollars ($10,000) executed by an admitted surety insurer and conditioned that the applicant shall not practice any fraud or make any fraudulent representation that will cause a monetary loss to a person taking instruction from the applicant.
(4) Meet the requirements of Section 11105.2 and, if the person is the owner of a driving school, meet the requirements of Section 11102.5. If the owner is not the operator of the driving school, the owner shall designate an operator who shall meet the requirements of Section 11102.5.
(5) (A) File with the department an instrument, in writing, appointing the director as the agent of the applicant upon whom a process may be served in any action commenced against the applicant arising out of any claim for damages suffered by any person by the applicant’s violation of any provision of this code or any condition of the bond.
(B) The applicant shall stipulate in the instrument that any process directed to the applicant, when personal service cannot be made in this state after due diligence, may be served upon the director or, if the director is absent from the office, upon any employee in charge of the office of the director, in which case the service is of the same effect as if served upon the applicant personally. The applicant shall further stipulate, in writing, that the agency created by the instrument shall continue during the period covered by the license and so long thereafter as the applicant may be made to answer in damages for a violation of this code or any condition of the bond.
(C) The instrument appointing the director as agent for the applicant for service of process shall be acknowledged by the applicant before a notary public.
(D) If the licensee is served with process by service upon the director, one copy of the summons and complaint shall be left with the director or in the director’s office in Sacramento or mailed to the office of the director in Sacramento. A fee of five dollars ($5) shall also be paid to the director at the time of service of the copy of the summons and complaint.
(E) The service on the director is a sufficient service on the licensee if the plaintiff or the plaintiff’s attorney also, on the same day, sends notice of the service and a copy of the summons and complaint by registered mail to the licensee. A copy of the summons and complaint shall also be mailed by the plaintiff or his or her attorney to the surety of the applicant’s bond at the address of the surety given in the bond, postpaid and registered with request for return receipt.
(F) The director shall keep a record of all process served upon the director under this paragraph showing the day and hour of service, and the director shall retain the summons and complaint served on file.
(G) If the licensee is served with process by service thereof upon the director, the licensee has 30 days after that service within which to answer any complaint or other pleading filed in the cause. For purposes of venue, if the licensee is served with process by service upon the director, the service is deemed to have been made upon the licensee in the county in which the licensee has or last had the licensee’s established place of business.
(b) The qualifying requirements referred to in this section shall be met within one year from the date of application for a license, or a new application, examination, and a fee shall be required.
(Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 243, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.)