Service of process via Facebook furthers due process objectives and provides a form of notice to inform parties that a lawsuit has been initiated against them that is more effective than other established methods. While personal service may always reign supreme, service via Facebook, on balance, provides significant advantages over service by mail and service by publication. This substituted method of service should be seriously considered as a viable method that recognizes changing societal norms regarding how people receive and distribute information.
In Mullane v. Cent. Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306, 314 (1950), the United States Supreme Court stated, “An elementary and fundamental requirement of due process in any proceeding which is to be accorded finality is notice reasonably calculated, under all the circumstances, to apprise interested parties of the pendency of the action and afford them an opportunity to present their objections.” The New Jersey Supreme Court adopted Mullane‘s constitutional requirements for service of process in O’Connor v. Altus, 67 N.J. 106, 126 (1975), stating that “[w]ithin that constitutional limitation, it is clear that states have the right to forge whatever service of process rules they see fit.” Since then, New Jersey courts have employed a “variety of methods of service.” Edward Hansen, Inc. v. Kearny Post Office Associates, 166 N.J. Super. 161, 169 (Ch. Div. 1979).
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