The defendant appealed against a decision not to set aside a judgment obtained against him by default. Whilst he retained a property in England, he lived in Ethiopia. The claim was served at the address in England, but was redirected to another address in Ethiopia.
Held: The appeal suceeded. The proceedings had not been served out of the jurisdiction. The defendant had not in fact been aware of their issue. The domicile of the defendant was not a relevant issue. As to ‘the difficulties of claimants seeking to serve proceedings on a defendant for whom they did not have an accepted address for service but who they suspect may be absent abroad or become so . . this difficulty can be met by the issue of concurrent proceedings for service abroad in respect of which an order for alternative service on the last known address of the defendant within the jurisdiction can be obtained. ‘
Judges:
Evans-Lombe J
Citations:
[2006] EWHC 96 (Ch)
Links:
Statutes:
Civil Procedure Rules 6.5 10.3
Jurisdiction:
England and Wales
Citing:
Still good law – Barclays Bank Swaziland Ltd v Hahn HL 1989
The House considered the validity of service of proceedings. Documents were served by means of ‘letterbox service’ when the defendant was en-route to this country but was not within the jurisdiction. Later that day he arrived within the jurisdiction . .
Cited – Chellaram and Another v Chellaram and others (No 2) ChD 16-Apr-2002
One of the defendants had not been properly served by posting the proceedings to an address at which he stayed on his very occasional visits to London. The proceedings had not been issued for the purposes of service abroad, because at the time of . .
Cited – Rolph v Zolan CA 1993
Postal service of County Court proceedings on an address within the jurisdiction could be good service notwithstanding that the defendant was physically outside the jurisdiction at the time of such service. Referring to RSC O10R1: ‘Thus it is . .
Cited – Cadogan Properties Limited v Mount Eden Land Limited CA 29-Jun-1999
If the defendant is outside England, an order for substituted service in England could not be obtained unless permission to serve proceedings out of the jurisdiction has first been obtained. . .
Cited by:
Cited – Kamali v City and Country Properties Ltd CA 24-Jul-2006
The defendant tenant appealed against judgment saying that the proceedings in the County Court had not been correctly served. Though the documents had been sent to his address under the lease, he had been out of the jurisdiction when the claim was . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Litigation Practice
Updated: 03 June 2022; Ref: scu.238209