Question of the Week
You’ve Been Served ... On Facebook
Posted Dec 17, 2008 2:00 PM CST
By Molly McDonough
Leave it to tech-savvy Australia to meld legal procedure with social networking. Indeed, we learned recently that an Australian court is allowing service of a default judgment via Facebook.
This raised a whole host of questions for us. But mainly, we wondered about unusual ways of serving an opponent.
So tell us ...
What's the most unusual form of document service you've heard about? Or share a story about a servee’s reaction or the lengths to which the servee avoided service.
Answer in the comments below.
Read last week's question and answers about legal marketing.
Our favorite answer from last week:
Posted by Elisabeth S.: "As a small town ‘family law only’ lawyer, who arrived just 2 years ago ‘from way,' marketing means a web presence, membership in the local Chamber of Commerce with the catchy elevator speech at functions, but most of all delivering excellent client service, with empathy. The clients come by word of mouth. That said, driving a big F150 truck with bush bar and cross country lights (needed in snow country living on a cattle farm) with my firm name and telephone # and the words 'Family & Collaborative Law' tastefully (yes, tastefully, not garish) stenciled on the back and side doors gets you noticed everywhere. Amazing how many clients hold the idea that if ‘a lady’ can handle a truck, she sure can handle their case."
- How B of A’s GC Got Fired: Leave Now, and Leave Your BlackBerry Behind
- Schools Ranked by 'Super Lawyers' Produced
- Law Firm Price Wars Break Out as Some Try ‘Loss Leader’ Bids for Work
- Five Questions for Law Firms Abandoning Lockstep Compensation
- Judge Jails 2 Attorneys for Contempt in 4 Days
- Reed Smith Will Ask Nonequity Partners to Pony Up Possibly 15% of Pay
- Court Deputy Ordered to Apologize or Face Jail After Taking Lawyer's Paperwork
- Skadden Jumps on the Bonus Bandwagon
- ABA Executive Director Resigns
- Nasty Attitude to Co-Worker, Naughty Word in E-Mail Cost 2 Their Jobs
Should Supreme Court Justices Be Able to Review News Accounts Before Publication?
Comments
Louise Truax
Dec 19, 2008 4:39 AM CST
Several years ago, a woman came to me for a divorce. She was very concerned about how her husband would react to being served and wanted to make sure that she was not there when it occured. We had the marshall call the husband to arrange service and the husband gave the marshall the address. When the marshall arrived at the address, he found that he was at a cemetery! The husband announced that if his marriage was dead, then it was appropriate for him to be served where the dead are. A few months later when I appeared in court on this case, the judge expressed concern over whether he had jurisdiction over the case, in light of where service was made. I had to assure the judge that service was made on a live person!
Flag this comment
Mary H.
Dec 19, 2008 5:13 AM CST
I was a new associate representing the plaintiff in a fairly cut and dried property line case where the defendant was clearly encroaching on plaintiff’s parcel. It took six tries to serve the defendant (he was a local government official). However, he waited until early on the morning after New Year’s to serve my client with the cross-complaint by a rather unorthodox process server. The server woke up my client yelling outside the door for her long dead husband. Once she was served, he began asking her about her spouse’s relatives—however he was inquiring about dead relatives who had not only been deceased for more than thirty years but who had lived a thousand miles away from my client’s home. The server was a young kid so he couldn’t have possibly known any of the deceased. Really bizarre to me at the time—obviously the server had done some research on my client’s family to harass her. It really freaked her out.
Flag this comment
E
Dec 19, 2008 8:31 AM CST
Service by Parole Officer. Our firm had a tort case, a battery, for which the tortfeasor was charged criminally and received probation. He changed addresses and was not amenable to service in the subsequent civil case. Eventually, we applied for court ordered service via the parole officer- but not even this worked, the defendant defaulted and the case has been set down for an inquest as to damages…
Flag this comment
Nick N.
Dec 19, 2008 8:42 AM CST
I recall an interview with a process server a number of years ago when he related his numerous attempts to get personal service on a gentleman. Knowing him to be at a certain house next door to a vacant building (the occupants never answering the door on several knocks and rings), he went into the next building that was only a few feet away. Looking through the windows he saw the subject sitting down at the kitchen table to eat dinner. It was summer and the windows were open. The Server folded the subpoena into a paper airplane and sailed it across the small walkway between the buildings landing in the mashed potatoes just as the subject was spooning them onto his plate. I thought it one of the most ingenious attempts at service.
Flag this comment
rmc
Dec 19, 2008 9:33 AM CST
In law school when working as a legal intern, part of my job was serving process. My favorite was at a nice home about 20 miles away from the office where I had tried a couple of times with no response. Last time there was a Sait Bernard outside the front door (nice dog). when the occupant answered the door, responded positively to my question as to name and then slammed the door in my face, I lifted up the dog’s front paws and place the papers under the paw. The servee called my employer before I got back to the office.
Flag this comment
Doug Echols
Dec 19, 2008 9:57 AM CST
I knew a family was leaving town in a vehicle we were trying to reposess. In our community there is a large baseball tournement and I had seen the folks at a game. I called the Sherriff and had hhe paged the husband to the front gate for an emergency. When he showed up, the sherriff served him and then went and got his car from the parking lot. Poor guy never knew what hit him!
Flag this comment
Renn
Dec 19, 2008 10:45 AM CST
I represented a gentleman in an uncontested divorce case. He was served by his wife in one of the nastiest ways… She had called up one of those telegram service companies that do the singing telegrams, hired a “santa,” and provided the santa with a wrapped gift to hand over after he was finished singing “We wish you a Merry Christmas.” My client opened the package and discovered the divorce papers. Some happy holidays.
Flag this comment
Adam D. Greenberg
Dec 19, 2008 12:12 PM CST
Impersonaton: I did a tax foreclosure in NJ and noticed nothing wrong with it. After we sold the property and the buyer sought eviction, it turned out that the wife had not been paying the taxes even though husband gave her the money and even drove her to the collector. Turns out she was forging receipts, deeds, even a court order to deceive him. And she impersonated the mother in law to receive her service as a mortgagee too. And why did mother in law have a mortgage-because the wife previously lost the house to mortgage foreclosure under the same facts - not telling her husband - and mom loaned the money to buy it back the first time. Then hubby put her back in charge of the bills. Oy.
Flag this comment
Adam D. Greenberg
Dec 19, 2008 12:15 PM CST
I had to sue a woman who read palms for a living. My friend scheduled an appt with her using the name Richard Posner. When he walked in, he said he had typed up questions but left his wallet in the car. He handed her the ‘questions’ and jumped into my car waiting at the curb with the door open. My cell phone rang in 30 seconds with some great words that I can’t write here. As a fortuneteller she should have foreseen what was coming!
Flag this comment
Todd
Dec 19, 2008 5:22 PM CST
My Civil Procedure professor was telling us a story about how a judge authorized service with a football. When he was an associate at NY, his firm was having a hard time serving someone, and the statute of limitations was running out. They knew of a party where the guy would be, so they went to the building across the street, attached service to the football, and threw it at the guy. If the football touched the guy, service was okay. It only took two tries.
Flag this comment
yeppers
Dec 19, 2008 9:32 PM CST
Sort of a side note. I surprises me that so many attorneys and JUDGES have FACEBOOK. I think it’s unethical for Judges to have their so called “friends” be lawyers. I so want an ethics opinion or story on here the ABA Journal highlighting this topic.
Flag this comment
Russ Brannen
Dec 20, 2008 1:32 PM CST
Many years ago, Doc Rivers, the successful Boston Celtics basketball coach, was a star b’ball player at Marquette University. The firm I was with back then employed many MU players over the summer in messenger capacities esp. to fill in when our full time guys were on also trained Doc to do so. Because of his stardom (everyone in Milwaukee knew he was going to go pro) people eagerly let him in, signed for papers…in exchange for his autograph!
Flag this comment
adam
Dec 20, 2008 10:01 PM CST
Yeah, yeppers,...how unethical for judges to have friends amongst the ranks they used to belong to!
Flag this comment
nicole
Dec 22, 2008 3:42 PM CST
I’m surprised Judges are even on Facebook or Myspace. My friend’s daughter who is a Junior in College says that Facebook is for Freshman and Sophomores and people at her college make fun of upper classmates who still have accounts in either one or both of these networks.
Flag this comment
Add a Comment
We welcome your comments, but please adhere to our comment policy.
Commenting has expired on this post.