FROM EFFECTING SERVICE TO EFFECTIVE SERVICE
Many claims fall at the first hurdle and often for the simplest of reasons: defective service. A failing at this early stage of proceedings can be disastrous if a limitation deadline is looming or has passed. It is therefore critical that parties contemplating litigation and those advising them are alive to the varying service requirements for claim forms and other documents, and how to use them to their advantage.
Service requirements
Once a claim form is issued, it must be served on the defendant within four months (where service is within the jurisdiction) or six months (where service is out of the jurisdiction) after the date of issue (Civil Procedure Rules (CPR) 7.5). This is an important window of time, which can be extended by agreement or with permission from the court. This is because once a claim form has been issued, it effectively stops the limitation clock from running. It affords a claimant, especially one up against a limitation deadline, to issue a claim form but then continue to assess the merits of the case, engage in pre-action correspondence or attempt early settlement (or a combination of these) before serving the claim form on the defendants.
If it does become necessary to serve a claim form, a claimant can do so in numerous ways, including: first class post, delivery to a relevant place, personal service, or via an electronic method such as email or some other electronic transmission.
Regardless of the method used, when serving within the jurisdiction, the claimant need only despatch the claim form within its four-month validity period (CPR 7.5(1)).
Jan-Mar 2024 issue
Greenberg Traurig, LLP