Public hearing set for proposal to allow email for serving certain court documents

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Lawmakers are proposing to allow certain court documents to be served on a party or party’s attorney using email.

Assembly Bill 566, which was introduced by lawmakers on Thursday, would modify the state’s Rules of Civil Procedure contained in Chapter 801 and 802 by allowing certain pleadings and court documents to be served by email if the attorney or party being served has consented in writing to the use of that method.

In cases when the attorney or party in question has agreed, legal documents submitted electronically to the courts would have to contain an email address that would have to be kept on file and up-to-date.

AB 566 would specify that email service would be completed once an email is transmitted, unless a sender had received notification that his message had not been delivered.

Meanwhile, the bill would not make changes to the current rules governing how individuals and corporations must be served in order to start a lawsuit.

AB 566 is scheduled for a public hearing before the Assembly Committee on Judiciary at 11 a.m. Thursday in Room 300 Northeast of the state Capitol.

The authors of the bill are state Rep. Ron Tusler, R-Harrison, and Sen. Fred Risser, D-Madison, both of whom are lawyers.

So far, no one has registered in support or opposition of the bill, according to state lobbying records. AB 566’s companion bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 468, has yet to be scheduled for a public hearing. It has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety. Follow @erikastrebel