Independent Contractor Agreement

This Independent Contractor Agreement (“Agreement”) is between Court Runner Inc., operating as Canadian Process Server (“Canadian Process Server,” “CPS,” “we,” “us” or “our”), which operates the Canadian Process Server platform, and you, a process server who applies to work through the platform (“you”). Our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy also apply. By submitting your application or accepting a job, you agree to this Agreement.

Your status as an independent contractor

• You work as an independent business, not as an employee, agent, partner or joint venturer of Canadian Process Server. This Agreement does not create an employment relationship.
• You control how you do the work, including your methods, your hours and your schedule.
• Each job is offered to you. You decide whether to accept or decline each job offer and each quote request. Nothing in this Agreement requires you to accept any number of jobs.
• You are free to offer your services to others, outside the clients you meet through Canadian Process Server.
• You are not entitled to employee wages, vacation pay, benefits or any other employee entitlement from Canadian Process Server. We do not withhold income tax or any other payroll deduction, such as Canada Pension Plan contributions or Employment Insurance premiums, from your pay.
• You provide and pay for your own vehicle, phone, tools and equipment, and you pay your own expenses, including travel.

Your taxes

You are responsible for your own income taxes. You are also responsible for deciding whether you must register for GST/HST and, if you must, for registering and for reporting and paying GST/HST as the law requires. Canadian Process Server is not a law firm and does not give legal or tax advice; speak with an accountant or the Canada Revenue Agency if you are unsure.

Licences, registration and insurance

• You must hold any licence or registration that a province, municipality or court requires for the work you do.
• Where you hold a licence or registration, you give us its number and keep it current. Insurance is optional. If you upload proof of a licence, registration or insurance policy, include its expiry date. Our team reviews each record.
• Where we have set a licence, registration or insurance requirement for an area, you receive new job offers there only while we have approved current proof of it. When a record expires, offers in that area stop until we approve a renewal. Jobs you have already accepted are not affected.
• Tell us right away if a licence, registration or insurance policy is suspended, revoked or cancelled.

Conduct and identification

• Act lawfully and professionally. Never use force, threats or deception, and never harass anyone, to serve papers or to find a person.
• Carry your government-issued photo ID while you work on a job and show it if you are asked to.
• The account and the ID you gave us must be your own. Do not let anyone else use your account or complete your jobs.

Attempts and affidavits

• You follow the laws and court rules that apply to each service.
• You record each attempt accurately and at the time it happens, with the time stamp, GPS location and photos the platform asks for.
• You sign only affidavits that are true and accurate. Never sign an affidavit for a service or an attempt that did not happen exactly as described.
• You swear or affirm each affidavit before a commissioner for taking affidavits or a notary public, and upload the sworn copy.

Confidentiality

Client documents and the personal information in a job, including the details of the person being served, are confidential. Only you, as the assigned server, may see them, and you may use them only to complete that job. Do not copy, share or keep them beyond what the job needs, and delete any copies you made once the job is closed, unless the law requires you to keep them. A client’s phone number and email address are never shared with you. Tell us right away if documents or personal information from a job are lost or seen by someone who should not see them.

Pay

• Per job. For each job you are paid your own fee for the job’s province, as set in your account, plus your share of any add-ons on the job. For a special job, you are paid the amount you quoted. You see the payout for a job before you accept it.
• Canadian dollars. All amounts are in Canadian dollars (CAD).
• When you are paid. Pay is sent through Stripe to your Canadian bank account after the job closes. A job closes once the 48-hour hold after you deliver the sworn affidavit has passed, as long as no problem report is open and, where the client ordered a mailed original, you have marked it as mailed.
• Open problem reports. While a client’s problem report is open, the payout for that job is paused until Canadian Process Server reviews it and decides.
• After 3 attempts. If service is not completed after 3 documented attempts and you deliver a sworn affidavit of attempted service, the job closes and you are paid as for any other job.
• Mailed originals. When a client orders the original sworn affidavit by mail, you mail it and pay the postage. Your share of that add-on is part of your pay for the job.
• GST/HST charged to clients is never deducted from your pay.

Deductions

Canadian Process Server deducts from your pay only for an error that is proven after our review, such as a refund to a client caused by your error. Before a deduction becomes final, we tell you what happened and the amount, and you have a chance to respond.

Clients and the platform

• Do not contact a client directly, ask for a client’s contact details, or accept payment from a client outside the platform. Canadian Process Server coordinates each job.
• Do not solicit clients you met through Canadian Process Server to use your services outside the platform, and do not accept work from them outside the platform.

Responsibility, disclaimers and limits

• You are responsible for your own conduct and for any loss or damage you cause. We are not responsible for your injuries, your vehicle, your equipment or your expenses.
• We do not promise you any amount of work. The platform is provided “as is” and “as available.”
• To the fullest extent the law allows, Canadian Process Server will not be liable to you for indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, and our total liability to you under this Agreement is limited to the pay due to you for jobs you completed. Some laws do not allow certain limits on liability, so some of these limits may not apply to you.

Suspension and ending this Agreement

• You may stop working through the platform at any time. If you have accepted jobs, complete them or tell us right away so we can assign them to another server.
• We may suspend your account or end this Agreement if you break this Agreement, the Terms of Service or the law, or if your licence, registration or insurance no longer meets a requirement we have set for the area where you serve. We tell you the reason.
• Jobs you completed before a suspension or the end of this Agreement are paid as described above, including the 48-hour hold, any open problem report and any deduction.

Changes to this Agreement

We may update this Agreement. Each update is published as a new version, with its date at the top of this page. You must accept a new version before you accept your next job offer or send your next quote. Jobs you have already accepted continue under the version you accepted. We keep a record of which version you accepted and when.

Governing law and disputes

If you have a concern about this Agreement, a job or a payout, contact us first through our contact page so we have a chance to resolve it informally.

This Agreement is governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario and the federal laws of Canada that apply there, without regard to conflict of law rules. A claim that is not resolved informally may be brought in the courts of Ontario, including the Small Claims Court if it qualifies, except where the law gives you the right to bring it somewhere else.

Contact us

If you have a question about this Agreement, contact us through our contact page. You may also reach us at info@canadianprocesssserver.ca, by phone at (647) 450-3736, or by mail at Canadian Process Server (a service of Court Runner Inc.), 10 Four Seasons Pl, Suite 1000, Toronto, ON M9B 6H7.