Serving documents rules

7/30/2019 Serving documents rules

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P r o v i n c i a l c o u r t o f B r i t i s h c o l u m B i a

s m a l l c l a i m s c o u r t

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B o o k l e t

ministry of Just ice

Serving

Documents


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ServingDocuments

A lot o paperwork is involved in almost any lawsuit andits important that copies o documents get to everyonewho needs them. Tats why there are rules about whatyou must do to see that everyone actually receives thosecopies.

Getting the paperwork rom one person to another iscalled service o documents. Tis booklet explains thesmall claims court rules or service o documents andtries to answer some o the questions you may have.

I you are enorcing an order, go to the What AboutOther Documents section o this guide.

hw d i ?

Te notice o claim is the rst ofcial notice o the lawsuit

that the deendant (the person you are suing) will have.For this reason, the rules require us to take extra care to besure that the deendant actually receives the notice.

Also, at this point the person making the claim (the

claimant) may not have the correct address or thedeendant, so just mailing it by ordinary mail isnt goodenough. What you have to do depends on what kind odeendant you have.

i D d i d d

I you are suing an adult, the two methods o serviceavailable are:

personal service; and service by registered mail.

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o serve a document personally, you or someone actingon your behal will simply hand the document to the

deendant. I the person reuses to take it, you can dropit on the oor at their eet.

o serve a document by registered mail, you will need toprovide proo o service (see section 8 on how to provethe document has been served).

I the deendant is under the age o 19, diferent serviceprocedures apply. You may need to seek legal advice, asthe Supreme Court Rules guide this process.

i D d c p

You will already know the address o the companysregistered oce, because this is the address you gotof the printout or the company search and put onthe notice o claim. All you have to do is mail it thereby registered mail. You will need to provide a proo o

service (see section 8 on how to prove the document hasbeen served). Or you can take it there personally andleave it at the registered oce.

Another way to serve a company is to take it to thecompanys place o business and leave it with the person

who appears to be in charge there.

You may also leave it with the director or ocer o thecompany. And, nally, i the company has a trustee-in-bankruptcy, liquidator or receiver-manager, you can

leave it with that person.

I the deendant is registered in B.C. as an extra-provincial corporation (its main place o business isoutside the province), you can leave a copy o the noticeo claim and blank reply orm with the person who is

appointed to be its attorney, under Section 389 o theBusiness Corporations Act. Alternatively, you may sendthese documents to the attorney by registered mail. You

would get this inormation rom the Corporate Registry(see small claims courtbooklet #2: Making a Claim).

i D d P p

A partnership doesnt have a registered oce. o serve apartnership, you can take the copy o the notice o claimand blank reply orm to its place o business and leave it


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with a receptionist or with the person who seems to bein charge. Or, you can mail it by registered mail to, or

leave it with, a partner. You will need to provide a prooo service (see section 8 on how to prove the documenthas been served).

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I you are suing a business that is not an incorporatedcompany and not a partnership, you will be namingthe owner o the business as a deendant. Tis is theperson you must serve and the rules or serving anindividual apply.

i D d m p

I you are suing a municipality, you must leave a copy othe notice o claim and blank reply orm with the clerkor deputy clerk or some ocial. Te Municipal Act hasspecial notice periods and limitation periods that are

very short. Te registry will not be able to provide thisinormation and you may need legal advice.

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s , u p d

a u

I you are suing any o these, there are special rulesabout service. Registry staf can help you with these.(See the small claims court civil rules, Rules 2 and 18,or more specic inormation about serving documents.)

i D d s c p s c

Reer to the Strata Property Act (Section 64) or specialrules regarding service.

i D d P

B c b I you are suing the Province o British Columbia, youmay serve the notice o claim personally by leaving itduring business hours at:

Legal Services BranchMinistry o Justice1st Floor, 1001 Douglas St.Victoria, B.C.


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You may also serve the notice o claim by registered mailto the ollowing address:

Deputy JusticePO Box 9280 Stn Prov GovtVictoria, B.C. V8W 9J7

W d i g dd?

You will give the deendant - by whatever method youare using - the deendant copy o the notice o claim andblank reply orm. Tis is what the deendant will use torespond to your claim.

I there is more than one deendant, you must serveeach one with their own copy o the notice o claim anda blank reply orm. Tis means that i you are servingtwo parties at the same address by mail, you must mailthe notices separately and get separate proos o serviceor each deendant (see section 8 on how to prove the

document has been served).

W dd p?

I the person you are suing normally lives in British

Columbia but is away - or example, working on a jobin Calgary - you can serve the notice o claim just asyou would an individual in B.C.

I the person lives outside o B.C. but the transactionor event that led to the lawsuit happened in B.C., you

can serve your notice o claim in the ordinary way.

A notice o claim can also be served on a corporationthat has assets in B.C. but is incorporated outside B.C.and is not an extraprovincial company.

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You can leave a copy o the notice o claim and blankreply orm at the corporations place o business with

the person who appears in charge there. You canalso leave a copy with a director, ocer, liquidator,trustee in bankruptcy or receiver manager o thecorporation. Finally, you can serve the notice o claimby registered mail. You will need to provide a proo oservice (see section 8 on how to prove the document

has been served).

In any other case, you will have to get the permission othe court registrar beore you can serve a notice o claimoutside B.C.

I you are serving a notice o claim outside the province,there is one important rule you must know: the noticeo claim orm is printed with a notice to the deendantthat the time limit or ling a reply is 14 days rom thedate the notice is served. But the time limit is 30 days

i the notice o claim and blank reply orm is served ona deendant outside o B.C. You have to change this, sothat your deendant gets the right inormation.

So, i you are serving a deendant outside o B.C., youmust cross out the 14 and insert 30, beore the notice oclaim is served. You also must make a copy o this orm,showing the change, and le it in the court registry.

hw g d i ?

Ater you have led your notice o claim, you have oneyear to serve it. It is possible to renew a notice aterit has expired, but you would have to apply to thecourt and explain the reason. I you are having troubleserving the notice and the year is almost up, youshould make your application to renew at that time,beore the deadline.

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D i ?

No, you dont. Oten it will be a simple thing - eithersending it by registered mail, or dropping it of at an

oce or having someone serve it or you.

Sometimes distance makes it inconvenient or impossibleor you to serve your own notice o claim and blankreply orm. Or it may be an awkward or even dangeroussituation. In any o these cases, i sending it by registeredmail does not work, there are proessional processservers who will personally serve the deendant or you,or a ee. You can get the name o a process server romthe yellow pages o your telephone directory.

Or, you can ask a riend to do it or you. I thedeendant is in another town, you might be able to mailit to a riend there and have them serve it or you.

Just remember that i the deendant does not le a replyand you want to get a deault order, you will have to le

a certicate signed by whoever has served the document.I you are using registered mail, you must get a prooo service that you attach to your certicate o service

which is led in the registry (see section 8 on how to geta proo o service).

W i dd?

You might nd that when you go to serve your noticeo claim and blank reply orm the deendant has movedand cannot be ound. Or maybe the deendant knows

you are trying to serve the notice and is avoiding you. Inany case, there is something you can do.

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You can make an application to the registrar o the smallclaims court to let you serve the notice o claim and

blank reply orm in some other way. What this otherway is will depend on the circumstances. For example,i you know where the deendant lives but theyreuse to come to the door, or arrange not to be there

whenever you knock, you might get permission toserve the notice by taping it to the deendants ront

door.

I you know that the deendant lives in a certain townbut you cant nd out the address, you might getpermission to serve the notice by publishing a legal

notice in the classied section o the local newspaper.(Tis can be an expensive option, so think twicebeore asking or it.) In some situations, the registrarmight allow you to serve the notice o claim andblank reply orm by:

leaving it with a relative of the defendant;

mailing it by regular mail; or leaving it at the deendants last known address.

(Alternative methods o service are sometimes calledsubstitutional service: that is, they are substituted or thenormal method.)

Te more you know about the deendantscircumstances the better. Te registrar will make anorder allowing service in whatever way is most likelyto bring it to the deendants attention. Beore asking

or some other method o service, you should alreadyhave tried several times to serve it in the normal way.Be prepared to give details o how you tried to serve thedocument and what happened and why the method oservice you are asking or will succeed.

Normally, the registrar will make an order allowing orsome other method o service and you must serve a copyo that order on the deendant along with the notice oclaim and blank reply orm, unless the method orderedis service by advertising in the newspaper.

Te registrar who allows some other method o servicevery oten will allow the deendant extra time to le areply. I that happens, be sure to cross out the 14 dayson the notice o claim and insert whatever number odays the registrar orders.


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W b d?

Once the notice o claim and blank reply orm hasbeen served, service o everything else becomes quite a

simple matter.

I the deendant les a reply, their address will be onit. Ten all you have to do with most documents aterthat is mail them by ordinary mail. (Exceptions are thethird party notice, summons to a payment hearing andsummons to a deault hearing.)

From that point on, it is always up to each personinvolved in the case to make sure that the court and theother parties have their current address.

Each time you mail another document, you simply lookat the lastdocument you received rom that person andmail it to that address.

Be careul about time limits. I you serve a document

by ordinary mail, it is considered to be served 14 daysater you mail it. So keep track o the date o mailing.O course, you can always choose to serve a documentpersonally or by registered mail i you wish.

hw d i p d

b d?Tat depends on who served the document and how.

I you or someone else served the documentpersonally, you can prove it by ling a certicate

o service. Te certicate simply says who servedthe document and how and when it was served. Acerticate o service is printed on the back o theservice copy o most o your documents.

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I the document was served on a lawyer or articledstudent, it is enough to le a copy o the document

signed by the lawyer or student or by a partner oremployee o the rm. Most lawyers have a rubberstamp saying something like, Service o thedocument is hereby acknowledged. Te lawyer thensigns and dates it.

I the document was served by registered mail, you mustle a certicate o service, a copy o the document that

was mailed attached to the certicate and a proo oservice to show the document has been served.

A proo o service by registered mail can be obtainedeither by phoning toll ree 1-888-550-6333 and askingor a signature copy or accessing the Canada Postinternet site: www.canadapost.ca and printing thedelivery conrmation orm.

I there is more than one deendant, a separate certicateo service must be prepared or each deendant. You canask the registry or additional copies o the certicateo service to attach to the service copy o the documentyou served.

I you served a summons to a payment hearing or asummons to a deault hearing, you will le an adavito service instead o a certicate o service.

hw d i g dd ?

It is up to you to be sure that the court and the otherparties in the lawsuit always have your proper address sothat they can serve documents on you. I your addresschanges, write to the small claims registry to let themknow. A postcard will do - just be sure to print clearlyyour name, your new address and the le number oyour case. You will have to send the same thing to everyother party in the case: that is, claimants, deendantsand third parties, i there are any.

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I you dont advise the registry and the other parties

involved o your change o address, they are entitledto keep sending things to your old address and it willnot be possible to keep you inormed about what ishappening in your case.


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hw i g ?

Te Ministry o Justice has published a series o booklets thatdescribe the court process. Tey are available rom any small

claims court registry. (I there isnt a small claims court near you,

your local government agent may have the booklets.) Te booklets

can also be ound under Courts, Small Claims through the

provincial government website:www.gov.bc.ca/ag.

Te other titles in the series are:

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1 What is Small Claims Court?#2 Making a Claim

#3 Replying to a Claim

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4 Serving Documents#5 Getting Ready for Court

#6 Getting Results

#7 Court Mediation Program for ClaimsUp to $10,000

#8 Mediation for Claims Between $10,000and $25,000

Civil Rules - September 2010

Te small claims court rules provide more detailed inormation. Te

rules have been written or non-lawyers. You can nd a copy at some

court registries, at your public library or online at:

www.gov.bc.ca/ag.

Serving documents rules

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