Judge Gives DirecTV OK to Serve Defendant in Pakistan via Social Media

U.S. Magistrate Judge John Love for Eastern Texas in Tyler granted DirecTV’s motion authorizing it to effect service of process of its fraud complaint on defendant Motasim Billah via Facebook and LinkedIn because he's believed to be living in Lahore, Pakistan, with an exact address unknown, said Love’s memorandum opinion and order Wednesday (docket 6:22-cv-00423).

DirecTV alleged in a Nov. 1 complaint that Billah was a key player with nine co-defendants in an ongoing fraud scheme in which DirecTV telemarketing impersonators stole money from existing DirecTV account holders through manipulation of gift cards (see 2211010049). DirecTV submitted several declarations detailing the “significant investigation that took place” to identify all the locations where Billah could be served, but various personal service attempts at three addresses in and around Tyler were unsuccessful, said Love’s order.

Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 4(f) says an individual may be served in a foreign country by any internationally agreed means of service “that is reasonably calculated to give notice,” such as those authorized by the Hague Convention, said the order. “Of relevance here,” it said, the U.S. and Pakistan are signatories to the Hague Convention, but Billah’s address in Pakistan is unknown despite “numerous attempts to locate him.”

Though DirecTV hasn’t said whether it tried complying with the Hague Convention’s “prescribed means for service of process for foreign defendants in international civil suits,” the Hague Convention doesn’t apply where the address of the person to be served isn’t known, said the order. Thus, the court doesn’t find that DirecTV’s failure to attempt service of process via the Hague Convention procedures “to be a basis to deny the request for alternative means in this case,” it said.

In the court’s determination, the Hague Convention doesn’t prohibit service of process by email, social media or posting to a designated website, said the order. The court “is unaware of any applicable international agreement that would prohibit service in such a manner,” it said: “A court acting under Rule 4(f)(3), therefore, remains free to order alternative means of service where a signatory nation has not expressly objected to those means.”

Other courts, including courts in the Eastern District of Texas, “have determined that service via social media on foreign defendants satisfies due process,” said the order. But the court must consider whether DirecTV’s proposed method of service via direct messaging through Facebook and LinkedIn “would comport with due process by exhibiting fairness and a reasonable probability of actual notice” to defendant Billah, it said.

DirecTV included a declaration with links to Billah’s social media accounts, “indicating that the accounts belong to him and that he regularly utilizes the platforms,” said the order. The court therefore said direct messages to Billah via the accounts “are likely to apprise him of the lawsuit.” Any risk of Billah not opening his social media messages can be mitigated by sending a “Dropbox link” to the documents, enabling DirecTV to view “whether anyone has opened the link,” it said.

Since Billah’s accounts are written entirely in “fluent English,” the court doesn’t find “that actual notice would be inhibited based on a lack of translation,” said the order. If Billah is living at an address unknown within the U.S., “the court finds that such alternative means are permissible for service,” it said: “Texas law allows for service by alternative means where service was attempted and unsuccessful and alternative service will likely be reasonably effective.”