Tag: service filing

How to Serve Legal Documents by Email

Joanne ChaseLeave a comment

The court has warned litigators that sending a document to multiple email addresses does not constitute good service, even where the party receiving the documents has agreed to it.

The Rules

Documents may be served by email where the receiving party has given prior agreement in writing to the party serving that they are willing to accept service by email, and provided the e-mail address (CPR PD 4.1(1)). The requirements of PD 4.1(1) will be deemed to be satisfied if the email address:-

  • Is provided on the solicitor’s writing paper and states that it may be used for service; or
  • Is set out on a statement of case or a response to a claim filed with the court.

Multiple Email Addresses

In Tax Returned Ltd & Ors, R (On the Application Of) v Commissioners for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs [2022] EWHC 2515 (Admin) the Claimant purported to serve a Claim Form by email. The Defendant had provided two email addresses upon which documents should be served. The Court concluded that the meaning of the letter giving permission to serve by email did not give the Claimant a choice to serve on either address; it required documents to be served on both.

The judge identified that CPR 4.1 refers to “email address” in the singular and that interpreting it in the way the Claimant sought would require inserting significant words into the rule.

Plainly the situation would become absurd if parties could submit multiple email addresses to which documents were to be sent before good service had been effected.

Para 74

The Court went on to find that the consequence of a party failing to provide a single email address is that 4.1 has not been complied with and service cannot take place by email.

Litigators should ensure that they only provide one email address for service. If another party provides multiple email addresses for service a request for a single address for service should be sent, failing which service should be effected by other means.

Should you have any questions, you can contact the team at civilandcommercialcosts@clarionsolicitors.com.

Failing to serve the Precedent H Costs Budget

Andrew McAulayLeave a comment

Confusion has reigned regarding the filing of Costs Budgets. The rule change on 22 April 2014 has clarified the position and it is now clear that the budget does not need to be filed with the directions questionnaire if no order has been made to do so. The case of Porbanderwalla v Daybridge Limited also supports this.

The position for failing to file the budget within the requisite time limit is clear – the budget will be reduced to court fees. This sanction only applies to failure to file, there is no sanction for failure to serve. The CPR states that all parties must file and exchange budgets as required by the court order, no reference is made to serving the budget. It is clear that the sanction does not apply to failing to serve the budget.

Although the sanction does not apply to service, the rules do state that parties must exchange budgets, therefore always proceed with caution and ensure that the budgets are served. If a Costs Budget is prepared at the ‘eleventh hour’, ensure that the Budget is filed first and then served. These valuable minutes gained could avoid any arguments relating to filing the budget late.

You can find out more about our services here or you can contact the Costs and Litigation Funding team at CivilCosts@clarionsolicitors.com