SDNY: Foreign State May Refuse to Effect Service under Hague Convention | Practical Law
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York, in Zhang v. Baidu.com, Inc., held that a sovereign nation may properly refuse service under Article 13 of the Hague Convention on the Service Abroad of Judicial and Extrajudicial Documents in Civil and Commercial Matters (Hague Convention) for not only the government itself, but also for a resident corporation. Practitioners should note that even if service is otherwise made properly under the Hague Convention, service may still be invalidated by the nation's refusal of the plaintiff's attempt to effect service.