Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/16pdf/16-254_5iel.pdf
Page Number: 13.0

10 

WATER SPLASH, INC. v. MENON 

Opinion of the Court 

In  1989,  the  Eighth  Circuit  issued  Bankston,  the  first 
Federal Court of Appeals decision holding that the Hague 
Service Convention prohibits service by mail.  889 F. 2d, at 
174.  The  State  Department  expressed  its  disagreement 
with Bankston in a letter addressed to the Administrative 
Office  of  the  U. S.  Courts  and  the  National  Center  for 
State Courts.  See Notice of Other Documents (1), United 
States Department of State Opinion Regarding the Bank­
ston Case and Service by Mail to Japan Under the Hague 
Service  Convention,  30  I. L. M.  260,  260–261  (1991)  (ex­
cerpts  of  Mar.  14,  1990,  letter).    The  letter  stated  that 
“Bankston  is  incorrect  to  the  extent  that  it  suggests  that
the  Hague  Convention  does  not  permit  as  a  method  of 
service of process the sending of a copy of a summons and 
complaint  by  registered  mail  to  a  defendant  in  a  foreign
country.”  Id.,  at  261.  The  State  Department  takes  the 
same position on its website.5 

Finally,  this  Court  has  given  “considerable  weight”  to
the views of other parties to a treaty.  Abbott, 560 U. S., at 
16  (internal  quotation  marks  omitted);  see  Lozano  v. 
Montoya  Alvarez,  572  U. S.  ___,  ___  (2014)  (slip  op.,  at  9)
(noting  the  importance  of  “read[ing]  the  treaty  in  a  man­
ner  consistent  with  the  shared  expectations  of  the  con­
tracting parties” (internal quotation marks omitted)).  And 
other  signatories  to  the  Convention  have  consistently
adopted Water Splash’s view. 

Multiple  foreign  courts  have  held  that  the  Hague  Ser­

—————— 

5 Dept.  of  State,  Legal  Considerations:  International  Judicial  Assis­
tance:  Service  of  Process  (stating  that  “[s]ervice  by registered  . . .  mail 
. . . is an option in many countries in the world,” but that it “should . . . 
not  be  used  in  the  countries  party  to  the  Hague  Service  Conven- 
tion  that  objected  to  the  method  described  in  Article  10(a)  (postal
channels)”),  online  at  https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/legal­
considerations/judicial/service-of-process.html (all Internet materials as 
last visited May 19, 2017).