High Court to serve claim on defendant via Facebook

High Court to serve claim on defendant via Facebook

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A judge has given the go-ahead for a claim to be served via Facebook in what is thought to be the first case of its kind in the English High Court.

Mr Justice Teare approved the use of the social networking site after difficulties locating one of the parties in a commercial claim.

The courts in Australia and New Zealand have regularly approved claims — formerly called writs — to be served via Facebook.

But in Britain there have been only a couple of instances when the courts have used the networking site and not at the level of the High Court.

In March last year, a county court judge approved the service of a court order via Facebook. And in October 2009, Mr Justice Lewison allowed an injunction to be served on a defendant via Twitter, because he was anonymous and there was no easy way to identify him.

Jenni Jenkins, a lawyer at Memery Crystal, the law firm in the case, predicted that such use of social media would become “increasingly common ... The courts recognise the increasing power of social networking sites like Facebook. It is all very well serving proceedings at a last-known residential address, but people move house all the time. Your e-mail or Facebook account moves with you.

“If a claimant can identify the defendant from his or her 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. This is definitely an area to watch.”

The case involves a $2.1 million (£1.3 million) claim brought by the investment managers AKO Capital LLP and AKO Master Fund Ltd against their broker TFS Derivatives, Anjam Ahmad, who worked for AKO Capital, and Fabio de Biase, who was employed by the broker.

The investment managers allege that the broker significantly overcharged commission and are seeking to recover it. The broker denies liability and argues that if held liable, it is entitled to recover a contribution from Mr Ahmad and Mr de Biase.

To date Mr de Biase has not participated in the proceedings and the claimants have failed to serve the claim form and related documents at his last known address.

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