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Cape Town - Watch out if a company or some institution is tracking you down for debt - you might receive your summons only on your Facebook profile.
This is a warning issued by Trisha Ramnarein of legal firm Deneys Reitz in Sandton. Recently, an Australian court decided to awarded a company the right to post a judgment-by-default order on a debtor's Facebook profile.
Australian courts already allow service of court process by e-mail and SMS text on cellphones.
Default judgments are issued when the company or institution has summonsed the debtor for overdue debt, but the debtor enters no defence and cannot be traced, and the court grants judgment against the debtor in his or her absence.
In South Africa it is possible that similar orders could be granted (to serve process on Facebook) in the context of what is known in law as substitute service - where the debtor has disappeared, she says.
A court can approve any means of serving of court documents and orders if proof is submitted that there is a reasonable likelihood of the missing debtor receiving the notice through that particular means of service, explains Ramnarein.
She reckons South Africa will probably in time make use of advances in technology already being used in court cases in countries like Australia, Canada, the United States and India.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.