L. Leonard Ruben District Court Building, Silver Spring, Md.  Farragutful, via Wikimedia Commons.

[Update, August 2025:  Michigan is a special situation, outlined here.]

A while back, I wrote that removing the self-expiration language in a standard bankruptcy summons is imperative when serving overseas defendants in adversary proceedings.  I’ve used that post on several occasions to advise litigators in various state venues to do likewise, where the documents contain text like “This summons is effective for service only if served within 30 days after the date it  is issued.”

The same basic logic applies:

If the summons expires by its own terms before we can reasonably expect a foreign authority to get the thing served, we’re wasting everybody’s time– especially the clerk’s office.

Continue Reading Modify State Court Summons Deadlines. Just do it.

Flag of Portugal at the Castelo de São Jorge in Lisbon. Berthold Werner via Wikimedia Commons.

Portugal is erroneously considered the “little brother” of the bigger country next to it on the Iberian Peninsula.    It has its own culture, its own language, and one heck of a lot more progressive recent history than its neighbor-who-shall-not-be-named.*  At one time, it was a global colonial power, and it counts some of the 16th century’s greatest explorers among its sons.   Pertinent to litigators today, serving process in Portugal is subject to the strictures of the Hague Service Convention, regardless of which U.S. or Canadian venue is hearing the matter.  Continue Reading How to Serve Process in Portugal

Ah, Umbria in the fall.

Because of this blog, I get a significant number of calls and emails from pro se litigants, with varying sorts of questions.  Ordinarily, I tell them I can’t advise them directly, but if they’ll have their lawyer call me, I’d be happy to help.  Some reply with thanks and a simple “thanks, Aaron, I’ll do that.”

Others reply with an expletive-riddled rant that lawyers are leeches draining the financial life out of hardworking people and why don’t we just all walk off a cliff somewhere.  I don’t mind telling them to go away.

But there’s a third type of response that bothers me greatly (saddens me, really) because it’s so unnecessary.  One such inquiry pinged in this morning, just as I was brushing my teeth.  Continue Reading Take the case– and let us worry about treaty requirements.

What? Atticus Finch was also a whaling ship captain?

[Update: April 22, 2022:  Aaaaand then he takes the opposite view, getting it wrong.  See my new rant way down at the bottom.] Continue Reading Judge Albright gets the Hague “alternative” question right, and so do others.

Quite possibly the coolest national flag in the western hemisphere.  After all, Maserati apparently adopted in for its logo…

We aren’t building rockets here.  But we are building a ship of sorts, and a leaky hull means the cruise ship might not get you to that cabana sheltered rum drink you’ve been craving.  Serving process in the Barbados is subject to the strictures of the Hague Service Convention, regardless of which venue is hearing the matter. Continue Reading How to Serve Process in Barbados

An iconic Shell station in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. David Bjorgen via Wikimedia Commons.

Reports the New York Times this morning:

Shell proposes a shift to Britain, dropping ‘Royal Dutch’ from its name.

The Anglo-Dutch energy conglomerate will apparently become just Anglo in the coming months, which begs the question… how do we serve the company when it’s sued in a North American court? Continue Reading Reshuffle pending at Shell? Not a big deal for service.

I’m older now than George Blanda was in this picture.  This is in his third decade of pro football. (L.V. Raiders archive.)

A couple of years ago, in The Before Times, the leadership of the National Docketing Association asked me to speak at its annual convention in Denver.  For those unfamiliar, the NDA is a fantastic coalition of court clerks, attorneys and law firm staffers who, simply put, make sure the trains run on time in the world of litigation.*  I’ve had the good fortune to work with many NDA members over the years, and I love Denver anyway, so it was an easy yes answer.  Thinking I’d give my stock CLE presentation about the Hague Service Convention and the minefield that lies before lawyers and law firm staffers whose opposing parties happen to be overseas, it would be easy to put an hour-long presentation together.

“No, Aaron, not a CLE session.  We want you to do the keynote.”

Um… huh?  [I’m eloquent that way.] Continue Reading The game starts with a kickoff.