UPI en Español  |   UPI Asia  |   About UPI  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Judge: Can't serve legal paper on Facebook

|
 
Published: June 13, 2012 at 6:01 PM

NEW YORK, June 13 (UPI) -- A U.S. judge has ruled that a bank cannot use Facebook to serve legal papers notifying someone they're being sued.

In a case involving a $1,243 credit card debt, Chase lawyers asked U.S. District Judge John Keenan in Manhattan if they could serve the legal papers against Nicole Fortunato through her Facebook account, since that was the only information they had about her whereabouts, Slashgear.com reported Tuesday.

Fortunato allegedly stole her mother's identity to get a credit card and ran up the charges.

Her mother, Lorri Fortunato, sued Chase, saying she never applied for the card and never authorized the charges.

She says she is estranged from her daughter, and doesn't know where she is. Chase officials said they've had no luck either, with the only "sighting" of her being her Facebook profile.

Chase lawyers said they wanted to serve her in an attempt to recover the charges through her Facebook account -- a practice that has been accepted in other countries -- but Keenan said no.

"Service by Facebook is unorthodox to say the least," he said, and "anyone can make a Facebook profile using real, fake or incomplete information."

© 2012 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
'Star Trek Into Darkness' screening NBC upfronts Met Ball 2013
'Great Gatsby' premieres in New York Spire raised on top of One WTC 2013: Celebrity break ups and divorces
Additional Technology Stories
1 of 17
Tornado recover efforts underway in Moore, Oklahoma
View Caption
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin talks to victims from the May 20 tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma, May 22, 2013. The EF-5 tornado cut a path of destruction approximately 17 miles by 1.3 miles wide and left 24 people dead. UPI/J.P. Wilson
fark
You know how at the end of Silence of the Lambs, the Senator's daughter got to keep Buffalo Bill's...
Five TV shows that are shaping world politics. And this isn't some silly list put out by an entertainment...
How to steal the mini-bar like a boss
You've lost faith in our systems, witnessed a parade of lies and deceit. So you look for comfort,...
Charles Ramsey awarded free McDonalds for life, which will now be about six months
Newspaper investigation concludes that soldiers with injuries, PTSD, are being drummed out of the...