We are continuing our series on Civil Procedure Rules, highlighting some of the little known but common rules and hopefully explaining them in plain English.
The next rule we will be looking at is Rule 6.4 – Who is to serve the claim form?
The rule says:
(3) Where the court is to serve the claim form, the claimant must, in addition to filing a copy for the court, provide a copy for each defendant to be served.
What does this mean?
This rule is still relevant today, despite the existence of Money Claim Online, the Online County Court, Possession Claim Online and CE-File.
Under those online systems, there is no requirement to comply with this rule. This rule applies to claims that are issued using the old fashioned paper-method (examples including Part 8 Claims and Landlord and Tenant Claims)
I actually remember this rule changing in or around 2011. Prior to 2011, when issuing a new claim, you were required to send to the Court:
1 copy for the Court file
1 copy for each Defendant that is being served
1 copy to be returned to you
However, when the rule changed, the extra copy to be returned to you was removed. Probably to save costs and paper.
So, to explain, if you have to issue a Court claim on paper and you want the Court to serve it for you, you must ensure the right number of copies are sent to the Court. For a simple claim between 1 Claimant against 1 Defendant, only 2 copies are required to be sent to the Court.
You can find the full Civil Procedure Rules online (currently) at https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/procedure-rules/civil/rules
Any questions or support with the above please email us at: [email protected] or phone 0151 230 8931.
