New Supreme Court Rules re: Service of Documents (E-Mail Service) Rule 2.516
Effective July 1, 2012 and pursuant to the Florida Supreme Court decision dated June 21, 2012 there are new rules concerning service of documents on another party. According to the new rule 2.516, all documents required or permitted to be served on another party must be served by e-mail. Upon appearing in a proceeding a lawyer must designate a primary e-mail address, and may designate up to two secondary e-mail addresses for receiving service. Thereafter, service on the lawyer must be made by e-mail. I am not sure (as the new rule does not make it clear) whether we are still required to serve documents by regular mail in addition to the e-mail service.
The rule goes on to specify that service by e-mail is deemed complete when the e-mail is sent and that e-mail service is treated as service by mail for the computation of time deadlines.
The document served must be attached to the e-mail in PDF format.
The e-mail must contain the subject line “SERVICE OF COURT DOCUMENT” in all capital letters, followed by the case number of the relevant proceeding.
The body of the e-mail must identify the court in which the proceeding is pending, the case number, the name of the initial party on each side, the title of each document served with that e-mail, and the sender’s name and telephone number.
The e-mail with attachment cannot exceed 5 megabytes in size. If it does exceed the size requirement it must be divided into separate e-mails (none of which may exceed 5 megabytes) and labeled sequentially in the subject line.
You also need to file a “Notice of Compliance with Rule 2.516 and designation of e-mail address”.
You can read a full copy of the Supreme Court’s Decision here: SC10-2101 June 21, 2012
Does this apply to Subpoena Duces Tecum service of Process?
Page 5 states: “applications for witness subpoenas and documents served by formal notice or required to be served in the manner provided for service of formal notice are not required to comply with rule 2.516.” So, it looks like a Subpoena of any kind would be exempt from this rule.
The section on service is rather ambigous. I found this (below) which says to me that service, as a rule, will be by email only:
If you do so and the other party is represented by an attorney or has also designated e-mail address(es) for service, E-MAIL WILL BE THE EXCLUSIVE MEANS OF SERVICE.
Being Saturday and looking on from home, I have not been able to do my
normal due diligence and research on this rule change.
My company does a substantial amount of Florida service of process here
in Connecticut. From my reading of your posting, I take it that this does
not apply to initial service of process on a defendant or any other
service other than the service upon an attorney who has filed an appearance in this matter.
I would appreciate it if someone can confirm my take on this
Thanx in advance
Page 5 states: “applications for witness subpoenas and documents served by formal notice or required to be served in the manner provided for service of formal notice are not required to comply with rule 2.516.” So, it looks like documents usually served by a process server such as summons or Subpoena of any kind would be exempt from this rule.
It will be interesting to see how this unfolds and is applied.
Hi,
Can you tell me if we have to file a separate document titled Notice of Compliance with Rule 2.516 or is there any type of language that we can put onto the body of the pleading itself or in the certificate of service?
Thank you!
You would provide in the Certificate of Service that the pleading has been served by e-mail and the “certificate is taken as prima facie proof of service in compliance with this rule”
Are there any new requirements for the Certificate of Service other than to now note that the document was served by e-mail? Thanks.
Nope. You do need to include email address in signature block though
Thanks. Another question is whether you have to designate e-mail addresses in “pending” cases. The rule says “[u]pon appearing in a proceeding, an attorney must serve a designation of a primary e-mail address . . . .” If not, they are supposed to use the one on file with the Florida bar. Don’t really want to file designations in all pending cases. Do you think we are required to file designations in all pending cases or just new ones? Thanks.
It only says upon appearing… I get the idea that if it is a current action you just add your email address to the signature block going forward…
I have read this rule several times. It reads: “According to the new rule 2.516, all documents required or permitted to be served on another party must be served by e-mail.” There is no mention about e-filing the documents with the clerk. So therefore, we designate email addresses and email docs to the adverse parties but paper file with the clerk. Is that your understanding? Thanks Linda
Correct. E-Filing is a whole other situation. If your office isn’t e-filing by now, you should start e-filing at least a little bit to get used to it. E-filing in State Court will be mandatory come April 2013. Right now it isn’t required but is suggested. You don’t want to wait until April to start doing it… But this rule only relates to actual service on the other parties… so you can keep filing the way you are filing now… for now… 😉