You’ve Been Served…on Facebook.

Recently, a family court judge in New York City agreed to allow a Staten Island man to deliver a summons to his ex-wife via Facebook. It is believed that this is the first time that a judge has allowed service by Facebook to occur in the United States. Judge Gregory Gliedman determined that service by Facebook was appropriate after Noel Biscocho couldn’t locate his ex-wife at a physical address or via other electronic means. Mr. Biscocho did, however, see his ex-wife commenting on Facebook. The practice of service by Facebook or other means of social media is not a novel idea. In fact, in 2009, a UK Judge approved serving a court ordered injunction against a party via Twitter. My thoughts? I think service by social media should only be used as a “desperate” last resort. On many occasions I’ve had to make the dreaded call to a client to explain that their lawsuit couldn’t move forward because we were having a difficult time serving the at-fault party. It would be nice to be able to say “you’ve been served” by a clip of a few buttons via Facebook or Twitter. ask.com wiki However, something deep down inside tells me that service via social media will create an enormous burden when the question of sufficiency of service lurks in a case. For now, I’ll just stick to the old fashion way.