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Kiwi judge approves serving court papers via Facebook

by on16 March 2009

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Bonkers

In a
precedent case, a New Zealand High Court judge has approved serving of court papers through Facebook.

After hearing a case in which Axe Market Garden is trying to sue Craig Axe over allegedly taking $241,000 from the company account, the High Court in Wellington approved serving court papers to the defendant using Facebook. Craig Axe currently resides in Britain, but his address is unavailable, so Justice David Gendall made the decision to use Facebook to send Axe his service order.

Counsel for the company Daniel Vincent, who suggested using Facebook to serve Axe's court papers, says he believes it is the first time the social networking site has been used for court correspondence in New Zealand.

Facebook is pleased by the ruling, as it validates the site as a reliable, secure and private communication medium. The decision also generates some free publicity for the company, such as the article you are currently reading.

So there you have it, if you're trying to evade a court order, delete your Facebook account.

More here.
Last modified on 16 March 2009
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