News dropped last week that Austria has, at long last, ratified the Hague Service Convention, which will enter into force on September 12. Its declarations are yet to be posted to the very excellent HCCH website (they are on the Dutch government’s treaty database…), but one interesting declaration has been highlighted by the good
How to Serve Process in Vietnam
For
Service on U.S. counsel doesn’t arise from Rule 4(f)(3)
Every once in a while, when a colleague is stymied by limitations to serving an offshore defendant, the thought comes to mind that “hey, I might try to get leave of court to serve the defendant’s U.S. counsel.” It’s a great idea, and if the judge signs off on it, I don’t see how it
Preference payments and service abroad
For most lawyers human beings, it’s been a goofy three months (we’re now well into the Covid-19 pandemic). Amid the quarantine, I’ve been incredibly fortunate to see my firm’s workload go up, but millions of my fellow Americans, including a whole bunch of lawyers, have seen
No, Water Splash isn’t a gift to litigators.
In a single day last week, Week Ten of America’s Covid-19 quarantine, I fielded essentially the same oddly segmented inquiry from three different lawyers across the country. A rather disconcerting inquiry, to say the least.
“Hey, Aaron. I’ve got an overseas defendant to serve. I’ve talked to some process servers who tell me that you
Time to file versus time to serve
Every once in a while, a colleague will call me with a story similar to this one:
“A client just walked into my office three days ago with what looks to be a rock-solid case. We can establish duty, breach, causation, and damages*
Rule 4(d) waivers and fee shifting
Civil defendants in federal court are obliged to waive service. All of them, with the notable exception of various governments. I give you Rule 4(d)(1):
An individual, corporation, or association that is subject to service under Rule 4(e), (f)
Hague addresses: APO and FPO don’t qualify.
In order for the Hague Service Convention (HSC) to govern the legal formalities of notifying defendants of claims against them, you’ve got to know where the defendant can be found. An address is critical to service anywhere, on any
Service by mail just became an even worse idea.
No, really. I’ve argued ’til I’m blue in the face that Hague mail service is a bad idea. Sure, it might be perfectly valid from a legal perspective, but factually… oy vey, you got problems, friend.
But even the legal perspective just became murky. A few minutes ago, I got an email from the
Civ Pro for 4L’s: Removal and Service of the Correct Summons
A couple of years ago, I posited in “Removal and the Timing of Hague Service Convention Requests, Real World” that not only must service be effected properly, but the contents of the service packet had to be