Social media is entering a new legal realm: At least one court has recognized that a Facebook message can be used to serve a defendant with documents in litigation. Historically, service of process has been most often accomplished by serving papers in person, or sometimes by U.S. Mail, to assure the court that a party has received due notice and an opportunity to respond to the legal proceedings. But service of process is not always accomplished by such old fashioned means. In a new twist, in
Federal Trade Commission v. PCCARE247 Inc., United States District Court, Southern District of New York, Case No. 12 Civ. 7189 (PAE), Judge Paul A. Engelmayer ruled that the FTC could serve legal papers on defendants who were located in India by a combination of email and Facebook messages. Service by email has been recognized in limited circumstances by other courts, and Judge Engelmayer emphasized that service of process by Facebook message would not be appropriate in every circumstance. The court noted that the FTC had shown that the particular email and Facebook accounts were actively used by the defendants, and the defendants had already appeared in the litigation through counsel that had since withdrawn from representing them.
The rapidly expanding legal importance of social media is illustrated by the fact that less than a year earlier, in Fortunato v. Chase Bank USA, another USDC case in the Southern District of New York, Case No. 11 Civ. 6608, Judge John F. Keenan refused to accept Facebook as a means of service of process on a party. Observing that “[s]ervice by Facebook is unorthodox to say the least,” Judge Keenan found that Facebook service would violate constitutional due process requirements, in large part because the court had not been shown to reasonable certainty that the Facebook profile actually belonged to the defendant who was being served.
Legislatures have also noticed the increasing legal importance of social media. In February 2013, Texas State Representative Jeff Leach introduced a bill that would allow substituted service through social media websites. If enacted, H.B. No. 1989 would allow Texas courts to prescribe as a method of service an electronic communication sent to the defendant through a social media website if the court finds: (1) the defendant maintains a social media page on that website; (2) the profile on the social media page is the profile of the defendant; (3) the defendant regularly accesses the social media page account; and (4) the defendant could reasonably be expected to receive actual notice if the electronic communication were sent to the defendant’s account. The Texas bill is the first of its kind, and it is likely that other states will consider similar legislation.
It seems safe to say that email and Facebook messages will not be the only technological methods by which service of process will be permitted in the future. As Judge Engelmayer observed, “history teaches that, as technology advances and modes of communication progress, courts must be open to considering requests to authorize service via technological means of then-recent vintage, rather than dismissing them out of hand as novel.” While people may not feel ready to be informed they are being sued by messages on Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn, that day may not be far off. The cautionary lesson is that email and other electronic means of communication need to be monitored for legal demands, notices or court filings, because a prompt legal response may be required.
