Canadian claim served by Instagram

Toronto court allowed service to be done by social media app.

A Toronto lawyer turned to social media to serve a claim on a defendant she had been unable to track down. Ontario Superior Court allowed Tara Vasdani, an associate at Mason Caplan Roti, to serve a statement of claim using Instagram, an app enabling photographs and videos to be shared. It is thought to be the first time that the province has permitted this to be done. Vasdani, who was representing an insurance company, first issued the claim in August and attempted to serve it at the defendant’s physical address. Having tried to find the defendant using her email address and other social media sites, Vasdani tried Instagram and sought the court’s permission to serve the defendant through it and LinkedIn. Vasdani finally served the defendant in a private message via Instagram and LinkedIn, as well as postal service to her last known address, and the court granted effective service five days later.

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