Case information

Civil procedure — Commencement of proceedings — Valid service abroad — Lower courts determining foreign applicant effectively served — Whether Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters: 15 November 1965, C.T.S. 1989/2 is exclusive, so that when document from Canada is to be served abroad in Convention state, it must be served pursuant to Convention — When pleading is served by mail under Article 10(a) of Convention, is service effected upon mailing, or only when defendant actually receives document.

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The respondents claim the applicant defrauded them by inducing them to invest US$48 million in a business that would install, manage and operate banking kiosks throughout the United States. The respondents say that after some initial distributions of cash, the applicant stopped making distributions and stopped communicating with them, in suspicious circumstances. The respondents sued to recover their losses. The applicant says that the respondents did not validly serve him or the other parties below before the claim expired and the claim was now a nullity. The respondents say that they have effectively served the claim.

The lower courts found the applicant was effectively served.