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Dec 18, 2019

Important Changes by U.S. Courts Regarding the Permissibility of Service of Process by Mail and Defendants Located Outside the U.S.

Process by Mail

BACKGROUND: The United States, Israel, and many other leading international economies are signatories to the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters (the “Hague Service Convention”), a multinational treaty “intended to provide a simpler way to serve process abroad, to assure that defendants sued in foreign jurisdictions would receive actual and timely notice of suit, and to facilitate proof of service abroad.” The treaty requires each signatory state to establish a central authority that receives international service requests and thereafter serves documents by a method prescribed by the internal law of the… Read more


Sep 27, 2017

Service by Mail Under the Hague Service Convention

International Mail

By Marcia M. Ernst[1] The United States Supreme Court recently ruled in Water Splash, Inc. v. Menon[2] that Article 10(a) of the Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters[3] (“Hague Service Convention”) does not prohibit service of process by mail. The Hague Service Convention is an international treaty signed by 72 countries, including the U.S.[4] It establishes a uniform mechanism for serving judicial documents on parties in other member countries and streamlines the service process so the documents reach recipients in a timely manner.[5] The Water Splash decision resolved a long-standing split… Read more