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Facebook: Where You Can Get "Super Poked" And "Super Served"

span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial;"/spanbr / span style="color: #353535; font-family: Arial;"div color="initial" face="inherit" size="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Facebook/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';", with more than 100 million users,nbsp;provides a way for friends and family to keep in touch with one another. So, it's only a matter of time before /span/spanspan id="SPELLING_ERROR_1"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Facebook/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';" accounts became tools for U.S. lawyers to tell users that they're /span/spana href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10124967-38.html"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"being served/span/span/aspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"./span/span/divdiv color="initial" face="inherit" size="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"It's already a reality in Australia, where a court recently allowednbsp;a lawyer for a mortgage lender to /span/spana href="http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081216/ap_on_hi_te/as_australia_facebook"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"use /span/spanspan id="SPELLING_ERROR_2"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Facebook/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';" as a method of serving legal documents/span/span/aspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';". The purpose of the suit: to let a couple know that they're about to lose their home through foreclosure after defaulting on a loan./span/span/divdiv color="initial" face="inherit" size="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Will this trend follow in the U.S.? nbsp;It is not unreasonable to assume that a person can be legally "notified" via /span/spanspan id="SPELLING_ERROR_3"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Facebook/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';", a site frequented regularly by users to staynbsp;in touch with family, friends and colleagues. Legal experts state thatnbsp;United States judges have the leeway to authorize serving legal documents through /span/spanspan id="SPELLING_ERROR_4"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Facebook/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';". nbsp;"I don't see why in the proper case a judge wouldn't authorize it, as long as it was reasonably calculated to reach the defendant," said Rory Ryan, a law professor at Baylor Law School in Texas and contributor to the civil procedurenbsp;blog./span/span/divdiv color="initial" face="inherit" size="3" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Traditionally, judges are conservative in how they expect the other side to be notified about a pending lawsuit. /span/spana href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/donors/solicit.php?http_referer=/rules/frcp/Rule5.htm"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Federal rules for civil/span/span/aspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';" cases mandatenbsp;the three types of notification are permitted: 1) handing it to someone, 2) mailing it to the last known address and 3) leaving it at a home or workplace. Electronic means are generally permitted only if the recipient consents in writing./span/span/divdiv style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"However,nbsp;Rules for state courts vary, and some are more permissive. /span/spana href="http://www.state.ak.us/courts/shc-184.htm"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Alaska/span/span/aspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';", for example, allowsnbsp;"alternate service" such as publication in a newspaper, if traditional methods don't work. /span/spana href="http://www.utcourts.gov/howto/service/service_of_process.html"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Utahnbsp;/span/span/aspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"and /span/spana href="http://www.dir.ct.gov/dcf/Policy/court46/46-3-30.11.htm"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Connecticutnbsp;/span/span/aspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"nbsp;also have similar procedures./span/span/divdiv style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"In general, judges want to use any reasonable means to notify someone of legal action against them, so there is no reason that /span/spanspan id="SPELLING_ERROR_5"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"MySpace/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';" and /span/spanspan id="SPELLING_ERROR_6"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Facebook/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';" accounts nbsp;would be off-limits. "I don't think /span/spanspan id="SPELLING_ERROR_7"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Facebook/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';" is going to be the first resort of many judges but I don't see why it could be categorically excluded," Ryan said./span/span/divdiv style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"The trend of using e-mail to serve a party has already started: In 2006, attorneys for a plaintiff in a New York federal court persuaded a judgenbsp;to allow them to serve a summons that way. The reason they received permission is that the defendant's lawyer wouldn't say where he is, but he had used an e-mail address in a recent classified ad. Also,nbsp;a federal judge in California allowed documents to be served on /span/spana href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-9883240-38.html?tag=mncol;txt"span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Wikileaks/span/span/span/aspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"nbsp;through e-mail./span/span/divdiv style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"Source: /span/spana href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-10124967-38.html"span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"CNET/span/span/spanspan style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';" News/span/span/aa href="http://tech.yahoo.com/news/ap/20081216/ap_on_hi_te/as_australia_facebook"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"nbsp;/span/span/a/divdiv style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="color: #551a8b; text-decoration: underline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"br / /span/span/span/divdiv style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"span style="font-size: medium;"span style="font-family: 'times new roman';"br / /span/span/divdiv style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 144.5%; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;"br / /div/span pa href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=EibcDI"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=EibcDI" border="0"/img/a/pdiv class="feedflare" a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=QPksO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=QPksO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=JNELo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=JNELo" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=mIuOO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=mIuOO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=0g2Ao"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=0g2Ao" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=1jJDO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=1jJDO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=RpHro"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=RpHro" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=XlewO"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=XlewO" border="0"/img/a a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?a=pNOdo"img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch?i=pNOdo" border="0"/img/a /divimg src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Fastcase-AcceleratedLegalResearch/~4/488891942" height="1" width="1"/

Full post as published by Fastcase Legal News on December 18, 2008 (boomark / email).