The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico heard a case in which one person sued another who resides in the State of California, United States of America. The initiated trial was of a commercial nature.
The judge ordered the summons to the defendant through a rogatory letter without specifying that it should be notified in a particular manner. Which was carried out by a private courier service. The Mexican judge deemed the summons correctly carried out in that manner and ordered the defendant to pay the owed amount.
Dissatisfied, the defendant filed an amparo lawsuit alleging that the notification by rogatory letter was illegal, as it was carried out by an unauthorized company. The district judge denied the amparo, to which the defendant filed an appeal. The same was taken up by the Supreme Court.
The First Chamber determined that the sending of the rogatory letter by a private courier company was legal, for the following reasons:
- The Hague Convention on the Service or Notification of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil or Commercial Matters of November 15, 1965 (Hague Convention), allows notifications to be made by methods such as mail or through private individuals.
- To the above, the United States of America did not oppose, as a required state and part of the Hague Convention.
- The certificate sent by the courier company to the judge is not a public document and therefore is not subject to being accompanied by the corresponding legalization or apostille.
- The United States did not oppose the provisions of the Hague Convention in the sense that it authorizes the informal delivery of documents through private individuals, as long as it is consistent with the laws of the state where the notification is practiced (California) and free from coercion.
- For the notification to be carried out, it was not necessary to comply with the rules of the Mexican commercial code; it was sufficient to follow the rules of the state where the notification was carried out, in this case, California. Without the need to follow certain formalities.
To read the official press release, visit
https://www.internet2.scjn.gob.mx/red2/comunicados/comunicado.asp?id=8150
