Apparently Facebook may have a new “status” to update here soon, and it may well read something like this: “You’ve been served!” A landmark legal decision by New York, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Matthew Cooper says plantiff Ellanora Baidoo can “serve” her hard-to-find-husband with divorce papers via the social media site.
The judge wrote that Baidoo, age 26,
is granted permission serve defendant with the divorce summons using a private message through Facebook,” with her lawyer messaging her elusive husband Victor Sena Blood-Dzraku through her account…
The couple wed in 2009, but never lived together according to court documents. Court documents also state Baidoo’s husband “refused to make himself available to be served.” Baidoo’s attorney Andrew Spinnel therefore filed an application with the courts asking for “service by alternate means.”
This new ruling will no doubt impact other forms of social media. Justice Matthew Cooper suggests the
“advent and ascendency of social media,” means sites like Facebook and Twitter are the “next frontier” as “forums through which a summons can be delivered.”
Does it all seem fair? Will the “alternate means” soon be the norm?