Court Rules that Emailing Legal Documents is Okay

A summons by email?

That may soon be a reality if a recent court decision has lasting effects. According to The Los Angeles Times online (3/22/02), a federal appeals court granted a request by a Las Vegas hotel/casino to email legal documents to a company with no physical address.

The court's decision was guided in part by recognition that in the age of the Internet, this may be the appropriate way to contact businesses that exist only in cyberspace.

For communicators, the decision offers several obvious considerations. First, a new avenue for communicating legal information is now open. Second, so long as we have an email address, we may be contacted at any time and anywhere--cyberspace knows no time or geographic boundaries. Third, information passed in cyberspace may exist on a server indefinitely, as well as be visible to anyone breaching security mechanisms to protect privacy.

Of course, given the limitations of technology--that servers go down, email addresses change, and email systems can be programmed to "bounce back" unwanted emails--the practicality of using email for legal correspondence may be another matter. Even if the technology permits, it may be some time before we see legal documents routinely being sent by email.