The Future of Electronic Service of Process

The Internet and the cloud have come to rule life as we know it. From social media and Internet browsing to smart phones and Wi-Fi hotspots, there’s practically nowhere in daily life that modern technology does not reach.

Until recently, process serving was one of those few places. Service of process, in which a party to a lawsuit provides legally appropriate notice of legal action to the responding party, has always been a person-to-person system. In most cases, a process server physically delivers papers to the defendant, although finding the defendant and delivering the papers in a manner recognized by the court is often a challenging feat.

Little by little, courts are making exceptions to traditional service of process standards and allowing delivery through electronic means. Currently, electronic service of process is only viable when a party can demonstrate to the court that all traditional methods of service have been attempted and exhausted. But in early October 2015, an electronic filing committee published a proposal titled “Limited Electronic Service of Process,” which has the goal of impacting how service of process documents are routed to process servers and sheriffs.

Many people feel that this proposal will be the first step in starting an avalanche; eventually, it’s possible that case initiation documents could be served directly from the court to the defendant if the defendant waives physical service requirements. Lawyers could perhaps even opt to accept primary service of documents electronically on a case-by-case basis.

Though this electronic change will occur at different paces in different parts of the country, there’s no denying that it is beginning. One judge in New York recently announced a groundbreaking court ruling that allowed a husband to serve his wife divorce papers via Facebook, and a house bill in Michigan is working to let landlords serve eviction notices through email.

Times are certainly changing, and service of process will continue to evolve alongside everything else.