News / National
'Court documents can be delivered by e-mail'
25 Oct 2013 at 06:54hrs | Views
The High Court of Zimbabwe has ruled that court documents can now be served electronically after a successful challenge by a local law firm, Scanlen and Holderness.
The landmark ruling was handed down on the 23rd of this month after legal practitioner Mrs Riana Moss had applied to the High Court of Zimbabwe to serve summons by way of e-mail to respondents resident in Zambia.
Mrs Moss successfully lodged the application for the service of court documents by a click of a mouse after her initial two attempts of using traditional methods of service failed to yield any results.
The respondents Edmund Chigwedere and Zameer Civils Private Limited were expected to collect the court papers from the Zambian sheriff and if they failed, service would be effected by the correspondent Zambian lawyers at the address provided by respondents.
Mrs Moss effected service of summons for the provisional sentence by way of e-mail after being granted the order to do so if the two other traditional methods had failed under Case Number HC 8340/13.
The main matter, which is the claim for a debt owed to her client, was set down for hearing on the 23rd of October 2013 before Justice Chigumba.
The matter was opposed by Mr Madzoka and Wintertons, the Zambian lawyers, who both challenged the legality of serving summons through e-mail.
They, however, both submitted that the respondents had read the e-mail on the 22nd of October 2013 the day before the hearing and they intended to oppose the matter by filing opposing papers.
Mrs Moss, however, successfully convinced the court that it should not be concerned with whether or not the respondents read and understood the contents of the e-mail as what matters is proof that the e-mail is operative and utilised by respondents.
The landmark ruling was handed down on the 23rd of this month after legal practitioner Mrs Riana Moss had applied to the High Court of Zimbabwe to serve summons by way of e-mail to respondents resident in Zambia.
Mrs Moss successfully lodged the application for the service of court documents by a click of a mouse after her initial two attempts of using traditional methods of service failed to yield any results.
The respondents Edmund Chigwedere and Zameer Civils Private Limited were expected to collect the court papers from the Zambian sheriff and if they failed, service would be effected by the correspondent Zambian lawyers at the address provided by respondents.
The main matter, which is the claim for a debt owed to her client, was set down for hearing on the 23rd of October 2013 before Justice Chigumba.
The matter was opposed by Mr Madzoka and Wintertons, the Zambian lawyers, who both challenged the legality of serving summons through e-mail.
They, however, both submitted that the respondents had read the e-mail on the 22nd of October 2013 the day before the hearing and they intended to oppose the matter by filing opposing papers.
Mrs Moss, however, successfully convinced the court that it should not be concerned with whether or not the respondents read and understood the contents of the e-mail as what matters is proof that the e-mail is operative and utilised by respondents.
Source - online
