First FYI Friday of the New Year!
Substituted Service Through Social Media
On August 21, 2020, the Texas Supreme Court announced an amendment to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 106 that authorizes courts in Texas to order substituted electronic service of process via “social media, email, or other electronic technology.” This move responds to Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code § 17.033, which called for the update to the rule. This change explicitly allows what a handful of courts throughout the country have permitted under catch-all substituted service provisions.
The amended rule took effect on December 31, 2020. The rule change does not disturb the primary and even secondary preferred methods of service— personal service or service via registered or certified mail. A comment to the amended Rule 106 instructs that “a court should consider whether the technology actually belongs to the defendant and whether the defendant regularly uses or recently used the technology.”
