RULE 5. SERVICE AND FILING OF PLEADINGS AND OTHER PAPERS
Service shall be made pursuant to one of the methods set forth in (1), (2), or (3). Whenever under these rules service is required or permitted to be made on a party represented by an attorney, the service shall be made on the attorney unless service on the party is ordered by the court. If an attorney has filed a notice of limited scope representation or a notice of limited appearance for an otherwise self-represented person, pursuant to Rule 11.01(b), service shall be made on the self-represented person and on the attorney until such time as a notice of completion of limited scope representation has been filed. After notice of completion of limited scope representation has been filed, service on the attorney previously providing limited scope representation shall no longer be necessary.
(1) Service on the attorney or on a party may be made by delivering to the attorney a copy of the document to be served, or by mailing it to such person's last known address, or if no address is known, by leaving the copy with the clerk of the court. Delivery of a copy within this rule means: handing it to the attorney or to the party; or leaving it at such person's office with a clerk or other person in charge thereof; or, if there is none in charge, leaving it in a conspicuous place therein; or, if the office is closed or the person to be served has no office, leaving it at the person's dwelling house or usual place of abode with some person of suitable age and discretion then residing therein. Service by mail is complete upon mailing. Documents which may be filed by facsimile transmission pursuant to Rule 5A may be served by facsimile transmission.
(2) (a) Service on any attorney or on a party may also be made by emailing the person the document in Adobe PDF to the recipient's email address, which shall be promptly furnished on request. The sender shall include language in the subject line designed to alert the recipient that a document is being served under this rule.
(b) A sender who emails a document and is notified that it was not received must promptly furnish a copy of the document to the person who did not receive it.
(c) A document transmitted by email shall be treated as a document that was mailed for purposes of computation of time under Rule 6.
(d) For good cause shown, an attorney or self-represented party may obtain a court order prohibiting service of documents on that person by electronic mail and requiring that all documents be served under subsection (1) or (3).
(3)(a) Service required by these rules also may be made on any registered user of a court’s Efiling system by filing any document that may be E-served with that court’s E-filing system. Eservice shall constitute effective service under these rules and no other service on such registered users is required, unless otherwise ordered by the court.
(b) Any attorney or any self-represented party who is not a registered user of an E-filing system, or known by the E-filer not to have been E-served, must be served by a means authorized in subsection (1) or (2) of this rule.
(c) Unless ordered otherwise by the court, a court or court clerk may, through such court’s Efiling system, transmit to registered users all notices, orders, opinions, or judgments filed by the court or court clerk, which transmission shall constitute proper service and shall satisfy the notice requirements of Tenn. R. Civ. P. 58 or any other applicable rules of procedure.
(d) Any court has the discretion, for good cause shown, to order that a means of service
authorized in these rules other than E-service be required in a particular case.
(e) A document that is E-served shall be treated as a document that was mailed for purposes of computation of time under Rule 6.
(f) For purposes of E-service under Rule 5, the definitions in Rule 5B shall apply.
[As amended by order entered January 31, 1984, effective August 20, 1984; by order entered December 10, 2003, effective July 1, 2004; by order entered December 14, 2009, effective July 1, 2010; by order entered January 16, 2020 effective July 1, 2020; by order entered December 19, 2022 effective July 1, 2023]
Advisory Commission Comment To 2004 Amendment
An additional method of service of pleadings and other papers, by facsimile transmission, is limited by the conditions in Rule 5A on filing by facsimile. For example, such service is limited to those documents which may be filed by facsimile transmission. Also, the sender bears the risk of ineffective transmission.
Advisory Commission Comment [2005]
Rule 5 requires service of pleadings filed subsequent to the original complaint, orders, written motions, discovery papers, and other papers, upon each of the parties. Exceptions are made with respect to motions which may be heard ex parte (Rule 5.01), and with respect to pleadings filed by various defendants when the court orders that, because of numerous defendants, pleadings need not be served as between defendants (Rule 5.04). The Rule spells out the details of how service shall be made, and provides that proof of service is accomplished by certificate of a member of the bar, or by affidavit of the person serving the copy, or by other proof satisfactory to the court. The details set out in the Rule are designed to give every reasonable assurance that a copy of the pertinent papers in the suit actually reach adversary parties through their counsel or directly.
The Rule provides that copies need not be served on parties adjudged in default for failure to appear; but if the pleadings assert new or additional claims for relief against such parties in default, copies must be served upon the parties. Rule 55 sets out the circumstances and procedures for entering judgment by default for failure to appear.
Advisory Commission Comment [2010].
The Commission is aware that many attorneys serve documents on one another electronically but, because the current rule does not provide electronic service is sufficient service, also send a paper copy of the document. This rule change is designed to allow attorneys to accomplish service of pleadings and other papers electronically without the need to send a physical copy.
The requirement that the sender shall include language in the subject line designed to alert the recipient that a document is being served under this rule is intended to reduce the possibility that the recipient might overlook the service of a document. Words in the subject line to the effect of "TRCP Rule 5 Service of Document in Smith v. Jones" are sufficient.
Adobe PDF was chosen as the format because it is required for federal court filings and virtually all attorneys have ready access to it. Of course, the parties may stipulate to the use of a different format.
The mailing or hand delivery of a certificate was included out of concern, well-founded or not, that an email transmitting a document could be lost in cyberspace. The certificate requirement puts the receiving attorney on notice that a document has been sent and, if the document was not received, will allow that attorney to initiate a process for promptly obtaining a copy of it.
The rule provides a mechanism for a court to order, for good cause shown, that electronic service of pleadings and papers not be permitted in a particular case.
Advisory Commission Comment [2012].
The first paragraph of Rule 5.02 is amended to address service of pleadings and other papers in cases in which an attorney has filed a notice of limited scope representation or a notice of limited appearance for an otherwise self-represented person, pursuant to Rule 11.01(b).
Advisory Commission Comment [2020].
Advisory Commission Comments [2020]. Rule 5.02(3) has been added to provide for electronic service through a court’s E-Filing system, provided that such a system has been authorized by such court pursuant to Rule 5B of these rules. The amended rule authorizes E-service through a court’s electronic transmission facilities as to any registered user of such facilities. An attorney or party who chooses to become a registered user of a court’s E-filing system shall be required to accept service through the court’s electronic facilities unless otherwise ordered by the court in that particular case. As a result of this amendment, service may be effectuated under these rules by any of three means: the conventional means of service authorized in Rule 5.02(1), by electronic transmission or email as authorized in Rule 5.02(2), or by E-service pursuant to Rule 5.02(3) in those courts that have adopted an E-filing system that complies with Rule 5B and the technological standards promulgated by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
Advisory Commission Comment [2023]
Rule 5.02(2) is amended to provide self-represented parties the same convenience in sending and receiving documents by email that is afforded to attorneys. Section 5.02{2){d) provides that a trial court may excuse a party from receiving service by email "for good cause shown [ ... ] . " The rule is not intended to require pro se litigants who lack regular and reliable email access to find a means to acquire it. When email service is feasible, however, courts should "not excuse the pro se litigant from complying with the same substantive and procedural rules that represented parties are expected to observe." State v. Sprunger, 458 S.W.3d 482, 491 (Tenn. 2015) (Citations omitted). Rule 5.02(2) is further amended to eliminate the requirement of a mailed, faxed, or hand-delivered certificate advising that a document has been transmitted electronically.