Service by email.

On June 27, I received an email from The Florida Bar sending a copy of the Supreme Court's latest rule changes. The most troubling change is a requirement that, effective September 1, all court papers must be served by email, in lieu of other methods such as fax and mail.

As most of us know, email is not 100 percent reliable. If your server is down due to a power outage, virus, etc., you will never know that you did not receive that motion for summary judgment, proposal for settlement, or notice of hearing from your opponent. If your opponent makes an error in entering your email...