Judge OKs Service of Lawsuit by Tweet SAN FRANCISCO (CN) - In what may be a first for U.S. courts, a federal judge has authorized serving a foreign national with a lawsuit via Twitter. 
 
 In June, a California nonprofit sued two Middle Eastern banks and a Kuwaiti sheikh for allegedly funding a Christian genocide in Iraq and Syria. 
 
 St. Francis of Assisi, an Alameda-based nonprofit that assists refugees, told the court in August that it had trouble serving one of the defendants - Kuwaiti born Sunni cleric Hajjaj al-Ajmi. 
 
 Al-Ajmi, who was blacklisted as a financer of terror by the United States and United Nations, has organized Twitter campaigns to help fund the Islamic State's systematic murder and displacement of Assyrian Christians, according to the lawsuit. 
 
 Because Kuwait is not a signatory to the Hague Convention, St. Francis could not serve al-Ajmi through a centralized authority as it can in other nations that are parties to the convention. 
 
 In a Sept. 30 ruling, U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler granted the plaintiff's request to use an alternative method to serve al-Ajmi with the suit: Twitter. 
 
 "The court grants St. Francis's request because service via Twitter is reasonably calculated to give notice and is not prohibited by international agreement," Beeler wrote in her 4-page ruling. 
 
 St. Francis attorney Mogeeb Weiss, of Alameda, said he believes this is the first time a federal court has authorized serving a lawsuit by tweet. 
 
 "The plaintiff is setting up the mechanism for putting notices on the defendant's Twitter," Weiss said. "We will tweet it at them with a link where the summons and complaint can be obtained." 
 
 Finding al-Ajmi's current Twitter handle could prove challenging because many of his previous accounts have been disabled by the social media platform. 
 
 Still, St. Francis insisted in its request for an alternative method of service that al-Ajmi remains active on Twitter. 
 
 In her ruling, Beeler cited prior cases in which federal courts have approved serving foreign nationals with lawsuits via Facebook and other social media platforms. 
 
 In 2014, a federal judge in the Eastern District of Virginia authorized serving a Turkish defendant with a lawsuit through email, Facebook and LinkedIn in the case WhosHere Inc. v. Gokham Oran, according to Beeler's ruling. 
 
 The judge also cited another case - Federal Trade Commission v. PCCCare Inc. - in which a Southern District of New York judge approved serving a defendant business in India with a lawsuit through Facebook. 
 
 "As in WhosHere and PCCare, service by the social-media platform Twitter is reasonably calculated to give notice to and is the 'method of service most likely to reach' al-Ajmi," Beeler wrote. 
 
 Weiss said he expects his client to tweet the lawsuit to al-Ajmi sometime next week. 

 Federal courts have long authorized service via email under Rule 4(f) for foreign defendants. The rule says that an individual in a foreign country can be served by (1) internationally agreed upon means such as the Hague Convention; (2) if there are no international means, then “by means reasonably calculated to give notice,” or (3) by other means not prohibited by international agreement. Email service has long been available under this rule. 
 
 Here, plaintiff, St. Francis Assisi, sued Kuwait Finance House, Kuveyt-Turk Participation Bank and Hajjaj al-Ajmi for damages arising from their financing of ISIS attacks on Assyrian Christians in Iraq and Syria. St. Francis had not been successful in serving al-Ajmi through traditional means. He’s a Kuwaiti national, but Kuwait is not a party to the Hague convention. However, al-Ajmi has a large following on Twitter, and he has allegedly “used the social-media platform to fundraise large sums of money for terrorist organizations by providing bank-account numbers to make donations.” 
 
 Citing to Rule 4(f) and other cases that authorized service via electronic means, the court approves service via Twitter: 
 
 al-Ajmi has an active Twitter account and continues to use it to communicate with his audience. Service by Twitter is not prohibited by international agreement with Kuwait. 
 
 The court does not specify whether service is accomplished by sending al-Ajmi a “you’ve been served” @tweet directed to al-Ajmi’s Twitter alias, or via DM. (Presumably, the lawsuit documents are linked.) 
 
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 Federal courts were not very warm to service via Facebook (see the links below), but perhaps their mood has changed. The other cases cited by the court all involve service via social platforms and email. There may be other cases out there, but this is one of the first cases under rule 4(f) I recall approving of service only via a social media platform. Hopefully, al-Ajmi will not have gone on a Twitter hiatus or have been suspended by Twitter by the time St. Francis effects service. 
 
 NB: Rule 4(f) only applies to foreign defendants. At least in federal court, service of domestic parties via electronic means isn’t possible under the federal rules. 
 
 [The ruling does not explain how St. Francis would have standing to sue in the Northern District of California on behalf of victims in Iraq and Syria but I suppose that is something the court will deal with down the road.] 
 
 Eric’s Comments: 
 
 1) For all of those clamoring for social media sites to censor terrorists more vigorously, the court’s approval of service of process via social media provides an important counter-narrative about the value of keeping communication lines open. We’ll fight terrorists on land, by air, by sea and, it appears, in the courts using our signature American-style lawfare (but only if we can tweet our lawsuits at them). 
 
 2) The court doesn’t address the obvious limitations of Twitter’s technology to send unrequested messages to a Twitter user. Twitter gives users the ability to turn off direct messages, and Twitter allows users to block or mute other users such that @tweets won’t show up. Because of Twitter’s unique technological configurations, it’s possible that the plaintiff cannot send a direct message to al-Ajmi and any @message will never reach al-Ajmi. Assuming the court nevertheless accepts the plaintiff’s service of process and allows the case to proceed, al-Ajmi may have good grounds to challenge any ensuing court verdict if he eventually chooses to fight in court. Otherwise, if the plaintiff gets a default judgment, we might cheer that as a triumph of American might (and the rule of law) sticking it to the terrorists, but we might actually lament the dubious service of process as a suspension of our celebrated commitment to due process. 
 
 Case citation: St. Francis Assisi v. Kuwait Fin. House, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 136152 (N.D. Ca. Sept. 30, 2016). 
 
 Related posts: 
 
 Another Federal Court Rejects Service of Process via Facebook – Joe Hand Promotions v. Shepard 
 
 Federal Court Doesn’t ‘Like” Service of Process via Facebook — Joe Hand Proms. v. Carrette 
 
 Bank Can’t Use Facebook for Service of Process — Fortunato v. Chase Bank
– A California nonprofit was having a hard time serving a Kuwaiti sheikh with lawsuit papers, so it got permission to do it in the most 21st-century way possible: on Twitter. Courthouse News Service reports that a federal judge is allowing St. Francis of Assisi, which assists refugees, to tweet the suit at Hajjaj al-Ajmi, whom the group is suing (in addition to two Middle Eastern banks) for what they say is his role in funding a Christian genocide in Iraq and Syria. "We will tweet [the notices] at them with a link where the summons and complaint can be obtained," a lawyer for St. Francis says, noting the tweet will likely go out sometime next week. In her Sept. 30 ruling, US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler wrote she agreed to the unorthodox method because "service via Twitter is reasonably calculated to give notice and is not prohibited by international agreement." The Technology and Marketing Law blog says email has long fallen under this type of acceptable delivery method for foreign defendants, though it believes this may be one of the first times social media is used for this purpose. St. Francis says it was finding itself hamstrung in serving Al-Ajmi with the suit in more traditional ways, as Kuwait hadn't agreed to Hague Convention terms that would have allowed the nonprofit to recruit a centralized authority to help it serve the suit. And the group says the suspected terror funder has been active on Twitter in the past, though it may be hard to find his most current active Twitter handle; many of his older accounts have been suspended. (A subpoena for Kanye West was served in a Nordstrom box.)