16 Tex. Admin. Code § 21.35 - Service of Pleadings and Documents
(a)
Pleadings and Documents submitted to a presiding officer. At or before the time
any document or pleading regarding a proceeding is submitted by a party to a
presiding officer, a copy of such a document or pleading must be filed with the
commission filing clerk and served on all parties. These requirements do not
apply to documents which are offered into evidence during a hearing or which
are submitted to a presiding officer for in camera inspection; provided that
the party submitting documents for in camera inspection must file and serve
notice of the submission upon the other parties to the proceeding. Pleadings
and documents submitted to a presiding officer during a hearing, prehearing
conference, or open meeting must be filed with the commission filing clerk as
soon as is practicable.
(b) Methods
of service. Except as otherwise expressly provided by order, rule, or other
applicable law, service on a party may be made by delivery of a copy of the
pleading or document to the party's authorized representative or attorney of
record either in person; by agent; by courier receipted delivery; by first
class mail; by certified mail, return receipt requested; by registered mail to
such party's address of record; or by facsimile transmission to the recipient's
current facsimile machine. Service of a pleading or document under this
paragraph may also be made by electronic mail.
(1) Service by mail is complete upon deposit
of the document, enclosed in a wrapper properly addressed, stamped and sealed,
in a post office or official depository of the United States Postal Service,
except for state agencies. For state agencies, mailing must be complete upon
deposit of the document with the General Services Commission.
(2) Service by agent or by courier receipted
delivery is complete upon delivery to the agent or courier.
(3) Service by facsimile transmission is
complete upon actual receipt by the recipient's facsimile machine.
(4) Service by electronic mail is complete
upon issuance by the sender's electronic mail account.
(5) Unless otherwise established by the
receiving party, if service is made by hand delivery, facsimile transmission,
or electronic mail, it is presumed that all pleadings are received on the day
filed.
(A) If service is made by overnight
delivery, it is presumed that pleadings are received on the day after
filing.
(B) If service is made by
regular mail, it is presumed that pleadings are received on the third day after
filing.
(C) Service after 5:00 p.m.
local time of the recipient will be deemed served on the following
day.
(c)
Evidence of service. A return receipt or affidavit of any person having
personal knowledge of the facts is evidence of the facts relating to service. A
party may present other evidence to demonstrate facts relating to
service.
(d) Certificate of
service. Every document required to be served on all parties in accordance with
subsection (a) of this section must contain the following or similar
certificate of service: "I, (name) (title) certify that a copy of this document
was served on all parties of record in this proceeding on (date) in the
following manner: (specify method). Signed, (signature)." The list of the names
and addresses of the parties on whom the document was served, should not be
appended to the document.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
No prior version found.