Squarely in the heart of the Caribbean Sea lies an island that has played host to countless movies, spring break junkets, and movies about spring break junkets. The mere mention of Jamaica conjures images of Bob Marley, cabanas under palm trees, and scantily clad beachgoers
A routine question from clients across the continent– especially those in my own state*: “Hey, Aaron, the clerk says I have to tell the court
Client queries: “hey, Aaron, the clerk says the Hague Service Convention requires certified copies of the Summons and Complaint and something called an Apostille. Where do I get that?”
I get some variant
The most common question I get, aside from “how much is this going to cost?” and “how long will this take?” is this:
No, really. The Convention doesn’t require service of anything in particular– it’s a roadmap, rather than a
“They tell me I have to serve through The Hague.”
I hear that phrase at least three or four times a month, and while I forego the
[Author’s Note: this applies to federal practice!]
Another quirk comes across my desk now and again that seems, on the surface, to be fairly prophylactic. Realizing that the Hague Request I filed in China months ago will take a while longer to come back, my client petitions the
[UPDATE, December 17, 2020… a follow-up/parallel post, Serve EVERYTHING that’s required.]
This practice gives me a chance to work with some great
Here’s the progression of events when we file a request for service under Article 5 of the Hague Service Convention:
A slew of cases have come across my desk lately, involving plaintiff attorneys who have ostensibly already served foreign* defendants via statutory agents in the forum state. After plaintiff’s counsel spends several thousand dollars to defeat a motion to
I say all the time that we’re not building rockets here. But we are building a ship of sorts, and a leaky ship means lost cargo, and perhaps the inability to reach port. Serving process in the Republic of the
