Lonestar Communications Corp LLC v. Kaye & Ors
[2019] EWHC 3008 (Comm)
In the High Court of Justice, Business and Property Courts of England and Wales, Commercial Court (QBD)
Case CL-2018-000648
Before Justice Teare
Decided on November 01, 2019

Relevancy of the Case: Order for dispensation of service in a damages claim suit resulting from a cyber attack on the claimant’s business

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Civil Procedure Rules 1998 (Rule 6.16, 6.28)

Relevant Facts of the Case

• The claimant is a telecommunications company providing cellular and internet services to its customers in Liberia.
• The allegations state that the defendants have carried out a cyber attack on the claimant’s IT systems. Out of the four defendants, the claimant has served all the defendants except the second. The claimant company has tried to reach out to the second defendant through various modes but failed.
• Regarding the second defendant, the claimant seeks an order dispensing of service. So far, the claimants have made six attempts to serve the second defendant.

Prominent Argument by the Counsels

• The claimant’s counsel submitted that the second defendant was aware of the services. He was knowingly evading them. He submitted that the second defendant did not respond to Flickr messages. Moreover, he suspended his Facebook messenger after receiving messages from the claimant’s counsel’s firm. When the claimant’s counsel attempted to reach him via his personal website, the website was taken down.

Opinion of the Bench

• Based on the evidence, it appears that the second defendant is doing his best to evade service.
• The claimant’s counsel has made heroic efforts to serve the second defendant using the Internet and social media. This is after the failure of an attempt to serve in Israel using the Hague Convention channels.
• The claimant has undertaken to the court to continue to take steps to inform him of these proceedings. As a result, this is a fit case for the dispensation of service.

Final Decision

• The court granted the claimant’s request seeking an order for the dispensation of service.

Parul Anand, an undergraduate student at the National Law University, Jodhpur, prepared this case summary during her internship with The Cyber Blog India in May/June 2022.