CIVIL ADVOCACY SG2

R 6.15 CPR – The court may make an order for an alternative service either prospectively or
retrospectively.

6.15 (1) – if it appears to the court that there is a good reason to authorise service by a method,
then the court may make an order permitting service my alternative method.

6.15(2)- the court may order that steps already taken to bring the claim form to the attention of the
defendant by an alternative method is good service.

ADVOCACY- alternative for a notice for alternation of the claim form by personal service

1. Sir, I appear on behalf of Mr Sahil Thakur. This is an application for a notice for alternative
service of the claim form by personal service on Mr Mathew Mitchell, spouse of Mrs Felicity
Mitchell, at his place of business further to the CPR r6.15 or alternatively if this is not
accepted, an order for an extension of time to serve the claim form until 31st December
2018 further to CPR r 7.6.
2. Sir, I assume the relevant papers and documents have been provided.
3. Firstly, I will begin with an application for notice for alternative service of the claim form by
personal service to the defendant’s husband business address at Mitchell Associates, 1 plaza
tower, Fleet street, London.
4. I would like to affirm; the claim form has been served to the defendant on 18th July 2016 at
her home address where she resided at the time. The defendant did not acknowledge the
claim nor filed a defence within the usual accepted 21 days period.
5. I highly believe Mr Thakur meets the two-stage test that there must be a ‘good reason’ for
an alternative service to be made.
6. It appears that Mrs Mitchell, left the country shortly after the incident around November
2016. It would probably seem that she had left the country promptly after due to the fatal
accident that had taken place with my claimant, Mr Thakur.
7. Mrs Mitchell and any reasonable person ought to have known that a claim would be made
against her.
8. Sir, the decision was made not to issue the proceedings in France due to the costs and as
you know as we want to reduce the litigation costs as much as possible.
9. The deadline for the proceedings expire on the 18th November 2018, thus due to the
inconsistencies and the difficulties already facing this case, I am worried that the time for
service would expire before it can be served.
10. The claimant wants an alternative service to serve the claim form by personal service to
Mitchell Associates, r 6.6 (1)
11. I maintain, the defendant may not be aware of the claim against her but due to the tight
deadline, the claim form must be served as soon as possible both for the claimant’s sake and
the defendant’s sake. Mrs Mitchell must also have the chance for a legal representative to
take on her case.
12. A personal service would be most effective since the defendant no longer has a permanent
residency in the UK and evidence for this is by personal investigator Bob Hobson. The letter
before claim as part of the pre-action protocol was sent on 12th September2018. but the
letter bounced back and was returned to the sender. I would like to remind the court that
Mrs Mitchell, supposedly left the country in November.
 13. Mr Mitchell has a stable business in London and this seems to be the only place where it is
guaranteed that the claim form is received, and proceedings would start.
14. If Mrs Mitchell is already residing in the UK, this could only be in temporary accommodation
and perhaps living under someone else’s name.

ADVOCACY- EXTENTION