Small Law Firms

Lawyer Serves Complaint Via Instagram

Justice is blind and has #nofilter.

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In a world where technology has infiltrated almost every aspect of our daily existence and people’s lives revolve around their latest social media posting, what’s a lawyer to do when she’s unable to track down a defendant to serve a complaint?

She gets a judge’s approval to serve that complaint via Instagram, of course.

Toronto lawyer Tara Vasdani, an associate at Mason Caplan Roti, recently obtained what was very likely her province’s first order to serve legal process via Instagram. Canadian Lawyer has the scoop:

[Vasdani] first attempted to serve the defendant on Sept. 1, 2017, using a physical address, and her process servers were told the defendant had moved away. She then tried using email, with a read receipt, but her messages were either ignored or never read.

Vasdani then looked up the defendant on LinkedIn and contacted her last listed employer, who told her the person never worked there.

When Vasdani could not find the defendant on other social media sites, she turned to Instagram, which the lawyer says she uses much more than Facebook or other apps.

Having found the defendant on Instagram, Vasdani brought a motion in court asking if she could serve the defendant through Instagram and LinkedIn.

The court granted service effective five days after Vasdani sent the necessary documents to the defendant through Instagram and LinkedIn, as well as through mail to her last known address.

“[I]n order to avoid becoming obsolete,” Vasdani said, “it is our duty to evolve with society — and one of the concrete and surefire ways society is evolving is through technology.” Serving process through social media is a great way for lawyers to evolve — and a greater way to show everyone that justice is blind and has #nofilter.

Toronto lawyer serves claim with Instagram [Canadian Lawyer]

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Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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