Service of Claim Form by Email
The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (CPR) govern the procedural stages of a civil court case in England and Wales. The aim of these rules is to ensure cases are dealt with fairly, and at proportionate costs. Part 6 of the CPR (and the accompanying Practice Direction) sets out the rules for serving a claim form on another party.
Problem: The CPR has notoriously been unclear as to whether parties can serve a Claim Form and documents by way of email. This has been a cause of contention and dispute in several Court cases where documents have been served by email but under the strict interpretation of the CPR do not constitute valid service.
Outcome: The rules have been amended to allow service by email as long as (i) the other party agrees; and (ii) if multiple emails have been provided for service, then it must be sent to any of the two email addresses provided.
Controversial Ruling as to Service by Email
During the court proceedings in R (Tax Returned Ltd & Others) v Commissioners for HMRC [2022] EWHC 2515, CPR Practice Direction (PD) 6A was reviewed regarding the service of the claim form by email.
The court examined the PD and held that ‘effective service’ was only eligible to occur when the served party supplies only one email address and uses the same email address to send the claim form to the other party. This ruling provided that when multiple email addresses were provided for service by the party, and the claim form was mailed to those emails, it would not be considered as ‘effective service’. This was a strange and very unfair decision by the Court however this was not helped by the lack of clarity in the CPR. The Court in this case merely followed the rules at the time very strictly.
Change of Approach as to service to Multiple Emails
However, later in the case Entertainment One UK Ltd & Another v Sconnect Co Ltd & Others [2022] EWHC 3295 (Ch), the High Court considered the ruling above to be impractical as it would no doubt result in negative consequences, and litigators trying to take advantage of a technicality thereby causing satellite litigation to ensue.
The Court recognised that it is not uncommon for multiple email addresses to claim forms (for obvious reasons). The judge ruled that the service of the claim form would be considered effective and valid as long as two of the email addresses, among others supplied by the recipient party for service, were used to email the claim form.
As a result of this, the Civil Procedure Rule Committee made changes to CPR 6 in April 2023.
The Amended CPR PD 6A 4.1 now reads:
“Service by fax or other electronic means
4.1 Subject to the provisions of rule 6.23(5) and (6), where a document is to be served by fax or other electronic means –
(1) the party who is to be served or the solicitor acting for that party must previously have indicated in writing to the party serving –
(a) that the party to be served or the solicitor is willing to accept service by fax or other electronic means; and
(b) the fax number, e-mail address or email addresses or other electronic identification to which it must be sent, and
(2) the following are to be taken as sufficient written indications for the purposes of paragraph 4.1(1) –
(a) a fax number set out on the writing paper of the solicitor acting for the party to be served;
(b) an e-mail address or email addresses set out on the writing paper of the solicitor acting for the party to be served but only where it is stated that the e-mail address or email addresses may be used for service; or
(c) a fax number, e-mail address or email addresses or electronic identification set out on a statement of case or a response to a claim filed with the court.
(3) Where a party has indicated that service by email must be effected by sending a document to multiple email addresses, the document may be served by sending it to any 2 of the email addresses identified.” (emphasis added).“
Comment from Expert Litigation Lawyers
In all matters of serving claim forms by email, the other party must provide permission by writing, in accordance with CPR 6 in the usual way. Those who fail to carry out the procedures clearly stated under the CPR, may have the service of their claim forms or other documents will still be deemed ineffective. This may delay the progress of a case, and will no doubt cause to increase and satellite litigation and arguments between the parties will ensue.
It is therefore very important particularly when serving Court documents such as pleadings to ensure that you follow the correct procedures as to service. In our view there is still some uncertainty in the drafting of CPR 6 as to service by email, and failure to serve court documents has been a contention for many professional negligence claims against law firms.
If you wish to discuss your litigation dispute or any procedural questions regarding the CPR, please do not hesitate to call us or complete our booking form below to schedule a Free Consultation or alternatively call us on 0207 459 4037.
