Friend or Foe? On Facebook, It’s Not So Clear

An Australian court has ruled that a mortgage lender may serve a foreclosure notice via Facebook.  See Aussie court OKs using Facebook for serving lien.  Efforts at contacting the homeowners had failed until the attorney for the lender was able to locate the profile of the borrower through an associate’s Facebook page.  While there are certain electronic means that are recognized as proper methods for serving legal documents, notice by way of a social networking website is a new tactic.  In Australia, e-mails and text messages also have been deemed acceptable methods of service.  Professor Rory Ryan of Baylor Law School says, in the U.S., “legal rules list several acceptable delivery methods, but not surprisingly, Facebook isn't included.”  While Facebook boasts that it “helps you connect and share with the people in your life,” it may some day help the people in your life to serve you with court papers.

Comments

[Deborah McGovern]

Fascinating post. It doesn't seem to me that such a form of service would provide even constructive notice. How many places will you have to check every day to find out whether or not you've been sued?