Can court documents be served by email?

Service of court documents can be by email, if the party being served has agreed in advance. However, a new case has created an added layer of complexity to this rule. 

As everybody knows, the law can be slow to catch up with technology and modern ways of working. When documents are served by one party on the other, they can only do so by email if the receiving party agrees to be served in that way. If they do not agree, then service has be effected using one of the old methods, such as posting, personally serving, or sending a fax.

In a recent case heard in the Administrative Court, the Judge found that a claim form had not been properly served, as it had been sent by email. In this case, the defendant had confirmed that they accepted service by email, and provided a specific email address for documents to be sent to. However, when the solicitor went on holiday, a different solicitor provided an email address to the claimant, asking to be copied in to claim related correspondence. When the claim was served, it was sent to the new solicitor, but the email address at which the defendant had confirmed the proceedings should be served, was not included.

The Judge confirmed that when a party agrees to accept electronic service, that should be to one email address only, if that is how the defendant said they wished to be served. However, if a defendant says that they will accept service without providing a single email address, this did not permit the claimant to choose which email address was good for service. The Judge stated that giving more than one address for service was not compliant with the Civil Procedure Rules.

This case will be important where there are multiple fee earners or solicitors at any particular firm working on a matter. It is important that claimants ensure that defendants and defendants’ solicitors nominate a single email address to which documents should be served, otherwise there is a risk that proper service will not have been effected.

If you are having issues with your litigation, if you need advice about serving a claim, or whether to start your claim at all, we can help.

Contact us for a free initial discussion about how we can help.