TL;DR… be patient. It’s a process.
Several years ago, I published a pair of posts that are even more important to keep in mind now, in a post-pandemic world:
The spring of 2019 seems like a decade
How to Serve Process in Czechia (the nation formerly known as… the Czech Republic)
For starters, it’s officially been simply Czechia since 2016 (see here). Peggy and I were just there a couple of weeks ago, and even the Czechs still call it the Czech Republic and Czechia interchangeably; admittedly, so do I. What they don’t call it anymore: Czechoslovakia– that nation ceased to exist three decades
Focus on value– don’t just go for the low bidder when serving overseas defendants.
The Dutch– an exceedingly practical and direct people– have a saying: Goedkoop is Duurkoop. Cheap is expensive. We of the anglophone persuasion have a variation on that theme: you get what you pay for.
But the Dutch version captures reality far more forcefully. Cheap is expensive is an apt way of articulating the constant
Simultaneous Hague Service on multiple defendants? Probably not.
Our firm routinely handles service in complex cases involving multiple defendants in multiple countries, nearly always pursuant to the Hague Service Convention. In many of those cases, two or three (or even more) defendants are domiciled at the same address– especially in cases involving several subsidiaries of global conglomerates. One would think that should produce
Specious arguments from opposing counsel– and the critical need to argue.
Shortly after I hung out my shingle, I posted that defense counsel should always question the validity of Hague Service. Why?
What happens on the back end of Hague service?
Whenever I receive a Hague Service Certificate from a foreign authority, I pass it along to my client with a few pieces of advice– all sketched out in various blog posts. This is merely a consolidation of a few things to keep in mind on the back end of Hague service…
A Hague-compliant roadmap for service on “Schedule A” defendants.
Just getting the address right is only half the battle, y’all.
A huge hat tip to my friend and fellow law blogger, Ted Folkman, for his Case of the Day post last week about Peanuts Worldwide v. The Partnerships and Unincorporated Associations Identified on Schedule A (N.D. Ill. 1:23-cv-02965).* He very deftly connected the dots
How to Serve Process in the Dominican Republic
This is penned on July 9, 2024, well in advance of the Dominican Republic’s implementation of the Hague Service Convention. It will be revised in total on October 1 when the Convention enters into force.
If the action can wait until then… wait, because for the moment, the Convention’s lack of force is at
How to Serve Process in Costa Rica
Rich Coast. Delicious Coast. Abundant Coast. However you want to translate Costa Rica into English, it conjures images of palm trees and stunning beaches and lush interior rainforest. And parrots. Lots and lots of parrots. I have a friend who spends a month down there every winter, and who can blame him?
But there’s quite
How to Serve Process in Panama
Ordinarily, a how-to guide like this would lay out methodology for the application of the Hague Service Convention. But Panama isn’t party to the Hague Service Convention, so that idea goes out the window. This is at once a blessing and a curse.
It’s a blessing
… because you aren’t tied to a method