Prince Andrew Disputes That Pleadings Were Properly Served On Him

Virginia Giuffre filed a civil action against Prince Andrew last month in New York in relation to allegations that she was sexually assaulted by the Duke. Prince Andrew has vehemently denied the allegations made.

The difficulty for Ms Giuffre’s lawyers was that the claim was brought in New York and Prince Andrew is based in England. Ms Giuffre’s lawyers, therefore, needed to ensure that they complied with the complex rules in relation to serving proceedings outside of a jurisdiction. Ms Giuffre’s team engaged a process server to serve the necessary papers on the Duke at his home in Windsor. Service was first attempted on 26th August 2021, when the server was advised by Prince Andrew’s security that they had been told not to accept service of any Court papers.

The process server tried once again on 27th August 2021 to serve the papers. On this occasion, he was advised that he could leave the papers with the Police at the main gates who would then forward these on to the legal team.

Ms Giuffre’s legal team have claimed that by leaving the papers with the Police Officer, service had been successfully completed.

Prince Andrew’s team have denied that the papers were properly served on him and that Ms Giuffre’s lawyers had failed to follow the proper procedures for serving Court papers out of the jurisdiction.

A US Judge has been asked to determine whether the papers were in fact properly served. The decision has not yet been publicised.

Service outside of the jurisdiction

The above raises an important question:

What do you need to do to properly serve Court papers out of the jurisdiction if you start a claim in England and Wales against a Defendant based out of the jurisdiction?

It is first important to consider whether the Court’s permission is required to effect service on the defendant. This is very case-specific. CPR Rule 6.33 sets out when the Court’s permission is required to serve a claim form out of the jurisdiction.

If the Court’s permission is required, the claimant must apply to the Court for permission to serve the claim out of the jurisdiction. When making the application you need to satisfy the Court that:

1. There is a serious issue to be tried;
2. There is a good arguable case that the Court has jurisdiction (relying upon one of the jurisdictional gateways as set out in CPR PD 6B para 3.1); and
3. England or Wales is clearly the appropriate forum to hear the dispute.

If following your application the Court grants permission to serve outside of the jurisdiction you then need to consider how to actually carry out service. The Court when granting permission may have given some directions on this. In the absence of this, CPR 6.40-6.47 will apply.

The method of service will vary depending upon which country the defendant is based. You, therefore, need to familiarise yourself with the above referred to provisions in the CPR to ensure that you are using the correct method for that particular country.

The rules for serving outside of the jurisdiction are incredibly complicated and, if it is not done correctly, this could have a detrimental impact upon your case. It is, therefore, a good idea to seek expert legal advice as soon as possible.