Wellington (New Zealand) – Earlier today, New Zealand High Court Associate Justice David Glendall approved the delivery of court papers via Facebook to a man being sued over business dealings, Craig Axe. Axe reportedly took US$241,000 from his family’s “market garden company account”.
Axe was believed to be in Great Britain, though his exact whereabouts were unknown. It was known, however, that he had and maintained a social presence on the Facebook website. Because of this, Daniel Vincent, the plaintiff’s lawyer, requested that Facebook be used as the means to serve papers to Axe, as there would be difficulty serving him using conventional methods.
The idea of using Facebook, a website which can be accessed from anywhere on the Earth via the amazing Internet (if you think about it, it really is amazing), had come from a previous case in Australia where a couple were served a court order through Facebook after defaulting on a home loan.
This is believed to be the first time Facebook had been used by New Zealand in this way, in addition to being the first court papers were served to someone at an unknown location across international boundaries.
This could open up a whole new can of legal worms.
