Expansion of Electronic Service of Process Proposed

Public Comments Sought.  This is your opportunity to help shape the future of Service of Process.  As a participant of the ECF Technical Committee, NALSPro and others worked to draft this proposal in a way that would help ensure that private process servers retain their role in the legal ecosystem that is increasingly digital. 

Building upon the success of secondary electronic service, the ECF Technical Committee (TC) proposes to enhance the Legal Service Major Design Element (MDE) for OASIS LegalXML ECF version 5.0 consideration.  The proposed enhancements are herein dubbed Limited Electronic Service of Process or Limited eSOP.  The Limited eSOP concept aims to fulfill the following objectives:

1. Enable authorized third-party organizations (e.g., process server, sheriff, constable) to receive service of process documents and document metadata through a Filing Assembly Major Design Element (FAMDE) or Filing Review MDE Electronic Filing Manager (EFM) for the purpose of completing service of process on behalf of a requesting individual or organization.

2. Enable authorized third-party organizations (e.g., process server company, sheriff, or constable) to submit proof-of-service documents and document metadata to a court through a system-to-system interface between the authorized third-party’s records management system and an FAMDE or EFM.

3. Enable attorneys, who are either registered agents for an entity or attorneys of record representing parties on existing cases, to opt-in and accept primary service of documents electronically on a case-by-case basis. (Implementation is subject to governing state statutes and applicable court rules).

Post Service Documents to a Secure/Trusted Third-Party File HostingService

http://docs.oasis-open.org/legalxml-courtfiling/ecf-esop/v1.0/cnprd01/ecf-esop-v1.0-cnprd01-COMMENT-TAGS.html