contract-law breach-of-contract
How can you sue someone if all you have is a name and email?
<p>If a contract is breached, the victim should be able to sue the party/person who breached it. But what if all they know about the other person is his/her name (potentially fake even) and maybe an email? If the victim doesn't sue the other party, then is there any point in the contract?</p>

<p>You can hire someone to locate the defendant with the information that you have, or you can apply to a court for permission to serve them with process via &quot;substituted service&quot; because their physical address can't be determined.</p>
<p>But, in general, better business practice is to not enter into contracts with people with whom you have more than a name that might be false, and an email address, unless you have some means of non-judicial enforcement of your agreement (like the practical ability to shut down access to an internet subscription).</p>
<p>If you don't even know if someone's name is real and have done nothing to confirm that then you also have no assurances that they have any assets from which you could collect if you won a breach of contract lawsuit.</p>
<p>If you deal with large numbers of people in low value contracts, it may be worth treating the fact that some contracts are effectively unenforceable as a cost of doing business. But, if a contract is important, it was foolish from a business perspective to rely on a contract on that basis alone, even if it is legal to do so.</p>
