How do I sue an "American Based" Company?

neneromanova

My Fiance did some development work on a clients website in 08 to which the total amount was just under £4k :mad: Of course he says he can't pay it back as he has no money, then he said he would pay at a set date but never did.

His company website that he did work on is still live. The annoying thing is, the company used to be based over here in North Devon, but they set up a company over in the US as it was "cheaper". We both used to work for the company but the UK side of things went t*ts up and went into liquidation but the US company stayed open. Now the guy who took over the US based company asked my Fiance to work self employed for him so he did, then all this no paying happened. He paid to begin with then just said I have no money can I pay next week.

We've taken him through the small claims already and actually won via default as he never sent the forms in. (We sued his home address and him) Then it was nearly time for the bailiffs, he sent a letter in saying that his company is US based and the small claims came back to us and said sorry nothing we can do as that's US based.

So is there anything that we can do to get this money back? I know some will say you have to take the hit as experience but £4k when he owns 2 really really really nice cars and a huuuuuuge house it's not really what I want to do. I want to show him you can't just not pay when you want to.

Oh and we still have the emails that he replied to saying yes I know I owe the money, i will pay it soon blah blah blah.

I hope I've covered everything. If not ask away

Vomityspice

How much of your money do you want to waste on this? Thought it best to ask first as any non European Court action will not be cheap.....

However, if your determined. If it is not possible to effect service with the Uk jurisdiction you would need permission under r6.36 of CPR 1998 to serve the claim form out of the jurisdiction. You will need to show that the matter falls within para 3.1 of Practice Directions (PD) 6B (All available via web - simply this covers cases where the cause of action occurred with Uk). You will need to consult the full list in para 3.1 to discover if your case falls with it's scope. Even if para 3.1 applies, you will not be granted permission unless you can also establish that your claim has a reasonable prospect of success and that the UK is the most convenient place for the case to be tried. See Seaconsar Far East Ltd v Bank Markazi Johhouri Islami Iran (1993) 4 All ER 456.

You would need to apply for permission without notice,with supporting evidence. THe evidence should deal with your complaint, including anything that casts doubt on your application (i.e. full and frank disclosure). You will also need to complete the particulars of claim form (if not submitted with the claim form).

Note that as your debtor is outside of the EU they can object to the jurisdiction. Further, even if you win, the problems of enforcement in a foreign county will quickly make any action to recover £4k not cost eficent. i.e. it will cost you more to do it than you will get back.

Given the costs involved in all of this, and your claim is for £4k, unless they are planning to return to the Uk, I would write the loss off in your accounts and move on.

neneromanova

Thanks. It's just so annoying as the owner of the company lives and works over here in plymouth. They just rent business space in america. But all the running is done from over here

Is there anything else I can do? To get bailiff in do i NEED the court order? My parents did say send the heavies round but as nice as that would be, it wouldn't get the money back.

martindow

Can you clarify. Why can you not enforce your claim against him if he lives in Plymouth? Or was the successful claim against the company which no longer exists?

TM1976

I'm not sure if this is quite correct factually, overseas companies still need to comply with UK law when they operate here.

martindow I think you are correct - surely the problem is that the award has been made against the wrong company? Which company was the work done for? Which company was the invoice made out to?

neneromanova

The UK based section of the company was basically:

I KNOW NOTHING
1 high street
somewhere
UK
Some postcode

They then opened up in america aswell under kind of the same name but they added Incorporated at the end so it was I KNOW NOTHING Inc. The UK side of things stayed as I KNOW NOTHING.

Now the UK bit went into liquidation but the american Inc bit stayed open under the same people who run the UK business. My OH invoiced all work to I KNOW NOTHING Inc business which was in america.

We sued the main boss man as the owner of the company and he was the only one left owning/working for the business. Now the guy running the Inc business, at the time of being sued the company was still running. I think it still is now as he's still trading under it.

We sued his Home address in plymouth so that we could use the UK court system as that's what we thought we had to do. Everything was going fine, we were awarded judgement by default and were about to go through to the baliffs when he responds with a letter to the courts saying that he hadn't gotten any of the letters for the courts as his address was american.

The courts gave him the benefit of the doubt and the judgment was overruled. The courts then sent OH a letter stating that he had provided evidence that he was a US based company and couldn't be sued as an individual at his home address in his country.

Sorry if that makes no sense.

TM1976

The individual (the director) is a different entity to the company UK/US or otherwise - as such he's not personally liable for the company's debts. You need to sue the company not the individual.

neneromanova

Which I guess then takes us back to the second post and will cost shed loads of money, probably more than we would get back.

Thanks for all your help though everyone.

TM1976

neneromanova wrote: »

Which I guess then takes us back to the second post and will cost shed loads of money, probably more than we would get back.

Thanks for all your help though everyone.

I don't agree. The company is registered in the USA but it's resident in the UK as it's managed from Plymouth - it still has to comply with UK law. It seems that the court order is against the director not the company which is why it hasn't been enforceable - a director isn't liable for a company's debts - the company is.

If the company had no presence in the UK that's one thing but this doesn't appear to be the case.

TM1976

neneromanova wrote: »

he had provided evidence that he was a US based company and couldn't be sued as an individual

Ignore the US - it's irrelevant to the reason why he couldn't be made liable.

Vomityspice

Woooah!

The company is run from Plymouth? and the Director is living here?

That changes things considerably! Much better chance of getting your money if they are resident here.

1) How do you know the company was liquidated? What is it's name or number and I can look up its details on Companies House for you.

Have to agree with TM1976 these salient facts change everything!

Even if the Ltd was liquidated, there would be nothing to stop you have Official Receiver reinstate the company because of the outstanding debt. As you are indicating he has assets here then you have the option of going after him.