Stephenson Harwood uses Facebook to serve court claim
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The High Court has given permission for a claim to be served via Facebook in what is believed to be a first for a commercial case.
Stephenson Harwood partner Paul Thwaite requested permission to serve the claim via Facebook on Friday in a bid to join proposed defendant Fabio de Biase in a claim being brought against its client, broker TFS Derivatives, by investment house AKO Capital.
AKO Capital is looking to recover £1.3m in what it alleges were overpaid commissions from TFS Derivatives, which denies liability and contends that should the court find otherwise it should be able to recover funds from hedge fund trader Anjam Ahmad and de Biase.
In 2010 de Biase was fined by the FSA for his part in the scam while last year Ahmad was given a suspended sentence for his part.
On Friday, Mr Justice Teare granted permission for the claim to be served on de Biase after the claimant was unable to locate him at his known address.
According to a source close to the case the aim is to force de Biase to defend the claim by having him joined at this stage rather than risk further delays in the case.
Memery Crystal associate Jenni Jenkins, who is acting for Ahmad, commented: “The courts recognise the increasing power of social networking sites like Facebook. It’s all very well serving proceedings at a last known residential address, but people move house all the time. Your email or Facebook account moves with you.
“If a claimant can identify the defendant from their photo and establish that the Facebook account is active, this is a perfectly sensible way of serving a claim and giving the defendant an opportunity to respond.”
AKO Capital is being represented by Clyde & Co partner Neil Jamieson.
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Readers' comments (13)
Anonymous | 21-Feb-2012 12:49 pm
How do you establish that the Facebook account is active? Also if it is possible to determine this, isn't it contrary to established case law as to the modes of service and the CPR.
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Anonymous | 21-Feb-2012 1:57 pm
Like
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Litigateuse | 21-Feb-2012 2:09 pm
Well, as a starting point, if the person is posting updates on their facebook page, that's a good indication that the account may be active ;-)
The CPR gives the Court discretion to order service by an alternative method where appropriate. As for case law, case law is by its very nature always developing, should and does move with the times.
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Anonymous | 21-Feb-2012 4:40 pm
I didn't realise that there was a 'Served' button.
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Anonymous | 22-Feb-2012 1:53 pm
I am surprised that they say this is believed to be a first. I have previously obtained permission from the High Court to serve via Linked In and didn't think this was particularly new or innovative. I would be very very surprised if service via Facebook hadn't been done a long time ago!
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Anonymous | 22-Feb-2012 2:05 pm
The last comment about a "Served" button is more than a bit flippant, isn't it! Of course, there is no "Served" button on Facebook, just as there is no served button in a newspaper advert or posting on the wall of the last known address of the defendant!
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Kim Philby | 22-Feb-2012 2:23 pm
"Please check your account as you may have missed some updates. Legal proceedings have now been served on you."
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Anonymous | 22-Feb-2012 2:43 pm
How did you serve via LinkedIn, which doesn't allow you to send attachments?
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Anonymous | 22-Feb-2012 3:01 pm
It was slightly different as it related to service of a bankruptcy petition as opposed to a claim form but the order for substituted service provided that we had to send a copy to the last known residential address and e-mail address (from which no responses had been received) and that we then had to notify the respondent by Linked In that the petition had been sent to those addresses.
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Sophia Nadur | 22-Feb-2012 6:08 pm
The Australian courts have allowed lawyers to serve documents via Facebook since 2008. The arguments for using the medium are the same as for this case.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/09f59f8e-cbdc-
11dd-ba02-000077b07658.html
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