A judge in New Zealand ruled that lawyers could use a man’s Facebook page to serve him with court papers. Craig Axe is alleged to have taken more than $200,000 from his family’s business before skipping out of New Zealand. His father, who is suing him, doesn’t know the younger Mr. Axe’s current whereabouts, besides thinking he is hiding somewhere in England, making serving him with a lawsuit for the missing money impossible.
But Craig Axe has been posting updates to his Facebook page, and since he was regularly using the page, the judge in New Zealand ruled that Facebook would be a reliable way to inform Mr. Axe that he was being sued.
And though it’s a novel approach, this case is not the first time that Facebook has been used to serve legal notice - recently a court in Australia let a company inform a couple that their house was going into foreclosure via their Facebook page as well.
Facebook praised the Australian case, saying that it validates Facebook’s role as “a reliable, secure and private medium for communication.” Something to keep in mind if you happen to be on the lam.
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