[118985] in Cypherpunks
The "We did not get anything back saying that it had not been
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Robert Hettinga)
Tue Oct 12 02:09:02 1999
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Date: Tue, 12 Oct 1999 01:46:46 -0400
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net, cryptography@c2.net
From: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
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Reply-To: Robert Hettinga <rah@shipwright.com>
More from the "everything illegal everywhere all the time" file...
Cheers,
RAH
--- begin forwarded text
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Date: Mon, 11 Oct 1999 19:48:20 -0400
Reply-To: "Winchel 'Todd' Vincent, III" <Winchel@mindspring.com>
Sender: Digital Signature discussion <DIGSIG@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU>
From: "Winchel 'Todd' Vincent, III" <Winchel@mindspring.com>
Subject: The "We did not get anything back saying that it had not been
delivered" case . . .
Comments: To: ABA ISC Mailing List <ST-ISC@ABANET.ORG>,
leg-xml-l <leg-xml-l@gsulaw.gsu.edu>
To: DIGSIG@LISTSERV.TEMPLE.EDU
Sorry for the cross-postings . . . the following article I find very
interesting . . . so much so I typed it in . . . (I hope its not online
somewhere . . . sorry for any typos).
First the "Beeps and Chirps" case . . . now the "We did not get anything
back saying that it had not been delivered" case . . .
====================================================
Bankruptcy Court Issues Default Judgment Based on Failure to Answer E-Mailed
Service
Banking Report, ISSN 0891-0634, Volume 73, No. 12
Atlanta - In one of the first orders of its kind issued by a court in the
United States, attorneys in a bankruptcy case in Georgia were allowed to
serve process by electronic mail, according to the attorneys involved in the
case (International Telemedia Associates, Inc., v. Diaz, BankrCt N.D. Ga.,
(docket no. not available, 6/28/99).
The email originated in the United States, and was directed at a defendant
overseas.
The defendant, Arjuna Diaz, owner of a technology company that went out of
business last fall, was served by email on June 25, and failed to answer by
Aug. 24, placing him in default in the case. The default order was issued
by Chief Judge Stacey W. Cotton of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the
Northern District of Georgia.
The bankruptcy court for the Northern District of Georgia is one of nine
federal courts involved in a federal initiative know as the Electronic Case
File project being managed by the Administrative Office the United States
Courts.
Although papers were served by electronic mail in a case in Britain in 1996,
the lawyers involved in the Georgia case believe this may have been the
first service by email originating in North America.
"We have researched the case law to see what precedent there is out there,"
said J. William Boone, a partner in the Atlanta-based firm of Alston & Bird
who specializes in corporate bankruptcy. "We come up with zippo," he said
in a telephone interview Sept. 15.
"It's just the tip of the iceberg coming," Boone said. "It's just the
changing nature of commerce. I don't think it's a particularly surprising
development. I think sometimes things move a little bit slower in law than
in other things because it has always been traditionally done these other
ways. This is a new concept and way of thinking," he added.
Overseas Defendant Tagged. Jeffrey J. Swart, an associate at Alston & Bird
who worked on the case, said the order was likely the first of its kind
because the Federal Rules of Procedure would probably not permit service by
email on a domestic defendant. "You're going to have to have a foreign
defendant for it to happen," he said.
Boone and Swart represent a trustee in the bankruptcy. Diaz was sued as the
former chief financial officer and principal owner of International
Telemedia Associates, based in Atlanta, which provided billing and other
services to telephone hotline operators, Boone said. The company went out
of business in November 1998, and lost about $5 million, Sward said. Diaz
has since been traveling in Europe and Southeast Asia, but was unreachable
by fax or mail. "The only communication we were able to establish with him
was through email," Swart said.
Swart said the first time they tried to serve Diaz, the email was returned
saying the account had been closed. A second email, however, was
successfully sent. "We did not get anything back saying that it had not
been delivered," Swart said. "I don't know if he read it," he added.
Boone and Swart said in court papers that federal rules allow the courts
flexibility when dealing with questions of alternative service in foreign
countries.
Alston & Bird attorney William C. Humphreys Jr., was also involved in the
case and came up with the idea of serving Diaz by email, Swart said.
--- end forwarded text
-----------------
Robert A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
