The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act Should be Updated to Recognize Remote Courtroom Appearances

Allowing military members to continue pending civil litigation so that they can focus their attention on warfighting is sound public policy. Most agree we should protect those “who dropped their affairs to answer their country’s call,” and various federal laws have codified that protection for over a century. But what if the civil matter is com- paratively minor or could otherwise be easily resolved? While the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (“SCRA”) provides essential protections against harassing civil litigation, it should still pro- vide for the ability of deployed personnel to remotely resolve matters. Virtually every military member can easily be reached by e-mail or by some other electronic means. People currently serving in our nation’s armed forces have not depended on regular mail as their primary means of communication during their lifetime. Most courts now allow, or even require, electronic filing. Court appearances, including civil trials, are often completed through video appearances. In the instance of some- one in the National Guard or Reserve who is called to active duty and whose service is exclusively within the continental United States, while they may be technically deployed, their situation is very different from someone deployed overseas. To illustrate the scope of these issues, this Article will briefly summarize the history of the SCRA, what it covers, who is eligible to request its protections, and how it might be modified to account for today’s technological realities. Someone seeking relief under this federal statute generally must establish their military service has a “material effect” on their legal rights. Although the general concepts of the SCRA are well established, a core problem arises from the fact that material effect remains undefined. This ambiguity causes completely foreseeable problems for courts and for litigants. Finally, the authors will propose potential solutions.