The claimant applied for relief from sanctions, the defendant applied for a declaration that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the claim, by reason of the claimant’s default. The particulars of claim, however, were served outside the four month period for service. A claim form was issued and served within the four month period for service. The claimant brought proceedings against the defendants. The judgment of Chief Master Marsh in Maggistro-Contenta & Anor v O’Shea & Anor EWHC 3035 (Ch) is a prime example of difficulties being caused because of a mistake in relation to the rules relating to service. There is an argument therefore that whilst a claim form may be served in time if sent at the end of the four month period the particulars of claim are not. If posted they are deemed to arrive the second business day after posting. The particulars of claim remain subject to the “deemed service” provisions.The claim form is deemed served on the day in question.Further there are potential problems if the claim form and particulars are sent on the same day. However the particulars have to be served within the 4 month period. The problem is that claimants often believe they have another 14 days to serve the particulars after service of the claim form. This is because CPR 7.4(2) requires that the particulars of claim must be served on the defendant “no later than the latest time for serving the claim form”. The notes at 7.4.3 of the 2014 white book state that there is now a “trap for the unwary”. BUT THE PARTICULARS OF CLAIM MUST BE SERVED WITHIN THE FOUR MONTH PERIOD The key date is the date it was sent not the date it was received. This means that the claim form is validly served by putting it in the post (or using another authorised method of service). CPR 7.5 now provides that service takes place by taking the step required to serve (that is post etc) before 12.00 midnight on the calendar day 4 months after the date of issue of the claim form. The rules relating to deemed service of the particulars of claim were revised to deal with some of the anomalies that arose from the deemed date of service rules. DANGER AREA 1: DIFFERENT RULES APPLY TO THE CLAIM FORM AND PARTICULARS OF CLAIM Two particular issues often arise: (i) the Particulars are not deemed to be served when placed in the post (ii) the Particulars must be served within the four month period of service. Over the years there have been many cases where service of the Particulars has caused problems and led to a claimant coming to grief. Different rules, and assumptions, apply to the particulars of claim. We have seen many cases in relation to late service of the claim form.
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