S_C_P

Hi
I'm a British Citizen living in California, and am looking for some advice on a legal issue. Someone from back in the UK, is trying to sue me through the British Small Claims Court system. I don't feel as if I owe this person so I am defending the claim. However, I have read, in a different forum, that a person cannot sue anyone outside the UK because that person is outside of the jurisdiction of British law. The papers where sent to our old UK address and forwarded to me out here.
Has anyone had any experience with this or can anyone point me to a place where I can find some good info. The above mentioned forum was just one persons post and I haven't been able to find anything to back it up.
Any help or info would be greatly appreciated.

hungryhorace

In your absence, you can be found liable in absentia, which means you'll very potentially have a CCJ against your name. If you don't plan to return to the UK i wouldn't worry about it, but if you do, this could significantly impact on your ability to gain credit again.

NB: Before any claim small claim reaches the court mediation is formally offered and SHOULD be taken. I hope you can reach a mutual settlement with the plaintiff before the court is involved.

rpjs

IANAL, but I understand it is possible and not especially unusual for a civil judgement obtained in one common law jurisdiction to be enforced in another. The plaintiff would have to apply to the courts in your state to have their English judgement enforced, but if the US court is satisfied the judgement is valid and fair it can be enforced.

Whether it would be cost effective for someone in the UK to seek to enforce a small claim in the US is another matter. Probably not I'd wager.

md95065

Definitely not - if the plaintiff is intelligent and sane they probably wouldn't even try - if, on the other hand, they are any combination of stupid / irrational / vindictive that is another story.

treasuredr

Make the court aware that you are resident outside of the UK, in theory that should stop all proceedings. Small claims can only be brought against UK residents. By using your old address, they are either trying to circumvent this or they genuinely don't know you are in the US. Even if they get a judgement against you using your UK address, I believe you can apply to have this set aside on the basis of being non UK resident.

Check out www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk who have a whole section devoted to this type of situation.

Hope this helps.

kins

I'm pretty sure when Orange tried to get a CCJ against me they couldn't because I was living outside the country. They settled for putting a black mark (or whatever it is) on my credit record. When I moved back to the UK I got it removed and an apology for their mis-selling.