Court allows lawyer to chase mortgage defaulters through Facebook

Lawyers following up a couple who defaulted on their six-figure mortgage will be permitted to serve a judgement notice through Facebook, in a landmark decision in the ACT Supreme Court.

Lawyers following up a couple who defaulted on their six-figure mortgage will be permitted to serve a judgement notice through Facebook, in a landmark decision in the ACT Supreme Court.

Carmel Rita Corbo and Gordon Kingsley Maxwell Poyser failed to make repayments on their $150,000 borrowed from MKM Capital. A default judgement was granted on 31 October to law firm Meyer Vandenberg on behalf of MKM, leaving the firm with the responsibility of finding the defendants.

After 11 attempts to locate the couple – and the help of private detectives – lawyers Mark McCormack and Jason Oliver found the holders’ Facebook pages. The ACT Supreme Court has granted them permission to serve the court judgement through Facebook’s message function.

Meyer Vandenberg managing partner Archie Tsirimokos says the ruling is “unique”.

“It’s unique because of the circumstances of the case. The documents couldn’t be delivered personally, so we approached the court for permission by means of Facebook for contact. But we also asked for e-mail contact, which has been done before.”

“Ultimately, what the court decision was about was to be reasonably satisfied the defendants would receive communications.”

“We were able to show that the particular Facebook page was the personal page of the particular individual. We gave the court copies of the page and we showed each defendant had the other listed as friends, and so on.”

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