An End To The Extra Three Days After Service By Fax, Plus Other Changes For The New Year

Late last year, the Texas Supreme Court finalized amendments to several of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure to coordinate with the transition to state-wide electronic filing.  A few of those changes, effective January 1, go beyond the realm of electronic filing and will have much broader implications:

• The three days added to the response time when a document is served by fax is eliminated. (Now, three days are added only for service by mail)
• Service by email is now permitted. (Previously, agreement of the parties was required)
• Service by commercial delivery service (such as FedEx or UPS) is now permitted. The "mailbox rule" is extended to those services.
• Attorneys signing a pleading must include an email address in the signature block.