Service by Facebook – Coming Soon to a Defendant in Your Jurisdiction (Maybe)
Most of us check our social media accounts as frequently as our email. After all, these are our “friends” and we expect everyone to keep it friendly. So you can imagine how surprised one American was when he became a defendant after being served by an Australian plaintiff via a wall post on Facebook.
Yes, it’s unusual, but representatives of the plaintiff had made multiple, unsuccessful efforts to physically serve the defendant while he was performing in Australia. Later, after seeing the defendant’s activity on Facebook, an Australian court allowed “process by Facebook posting.”
Will Certified Legal Nurse Consultants see service by Facebook in the United States? Maybe not in the near future, but it’s almost certainly in our future. The more social media becomes integrated into our lives as an accepted and possibly ubiquitous form of communication, the more likely it will become an accepted form for service of process. What’s next, service by Tweet?
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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
