The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court has approved a lawyer’s request to use Facebook to serve legally binding documents.
George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager
After he failed to reach a married couple in default via e-mail and at their home, an australian lawyer received approval from The Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court to serve the lien notice through Facebook to the couple’s profile page. The lawyer representing the lender argued the attempt would demonstrate to the court that his client took all reasonable steps to address the couple.
In the past, Australian courts have previously granted permission for lien notices to be served via email and text messages if the party in default were otherwise unavailable. While such a motion has never passed in the United States court system, it may become a reality if a plantiff can prove that all attempts to contact the violator have been exhausted.
Post Note: The married couple in default have since then removed their Facebook profile pages from public view. This will obviously make Facebook users more mindful about whom they invite and accept as "friends" into their online social communities.
Tags: Facebook, Internet Law, online communities, online law, Social Network, Social Networking
