Illinois Court Limits Email Service in Schedule A Cases

A federal judge in the Northern District of Illinois rejected a plaintiff's request to serve Chinese defendants via email in a Schedule A trademark infringement action. The court cited the Seventh Circuit's recent holding in Kangol that the Hague Service Convention prohibits email service on defendants in China.

The ruling requires plaintiffs to use alternative methods compliant with the Convention, such as service through central authorities. This decision aligns district court practice with the appellate precedent and may affect numerous pending cases involving overseas defendants.

Counsel for defendants argued that prior email service practices had led to improper default judgments. The court noted that thousands of cases could be impacted by the shift in procedure.