PRACTICE |
Service |
Finlandia Cheese Inc. v. Shoreline Shipping S.A.
T-2214-00
2003 FC 969, Morneau P.
11/8/03
8 pp.
Motion by plaintiffs for order validating service of statement of claim on February 22, 2001 on defendant Maritime Freight America (MFA) or, in alternative, for extension of time for making such service--Notwithstanding changes in MFA's contact information, letter of November 3, 2000 reached MFA, and Mr. Sapp was replying to this specific letter through e-mail of December 13--Fact that Mr. Sapp states needs further information surprising in circumstances--In December 13 e-mail, Mr. Sapp does not inform plaintiffs' counsel that MFA has new address and new telephone numbers--MFA thereby directly leading plaintiffs to believe November 3 mailing coordinates valid--It was to these coordinates that plaintiffs proceeded to serve statement of claim against MFA, on February 22, 2001--So plaintiffs cannot be criticized for contact information they used, or fact that service made one day later than deadline of February 21, 2001 imposed by order of this Court dated January 22, 2001 --One-day delay independent of intention of plaintiffs and attributable only to slowness of postal system in question-- Plaintiffs then thought their service of February 2001 valid and were expecting reaction or defence from MFA--Plaintiffs cannot be criticized for fact that they did not try to contact MFA immediately after deadline for filing of MFA's statement of defence had arrived--On December 2, 2001, plaintiffs' counsel sent MFA statement of claim herein, with all relevant documentation--Date of December 2, 2001 should be adopted for ordering that period for service of plaintiffs' statement of claim extended to December 2, 2001 and for declaring MFA validly given such service as of that date--Four criteria for fulfilling test all met by plaintiffs--Motion allowed; ordered that deadline for service of plaintiff's statement of claim extended to December 2, 2001 and that MFA, as of that date, validly served.