How do I sue an "American Based" Company?

neneromanova

Vomityspice wrote: »

Woooah!

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

The company IS run from plymouth, but not on paperwork. On paperwork it's all run from a US building, but the building is a US Lawyer which is a good friend of his so it's all "above board" but not if you see what I mean.

This is the link to companies house

http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk/cd0b5c2d691f84787c392cd0e9acd8bd/compdetails

We were both made redundant so we know for definate that the company has gone into liquidation. Plus that site says they have too. My OH didn't do work for the UK company though. We were both employed by the UK company, were made redundant, then he was self employed and worked for the US company. He never worked or invoiced the UK company as it was already in liquidation by this point.

All of the addresses on the website that he's "running" are American based. I had to do some snooping to find his actual home address from his numpity Daughter. All monies that pass through this site are in USD. OH was also paid in USD via paypal (whenever he decided to pay).

TM1976

neneromanova wrote: »

The company IS run from plymouth, but not on paperwork. On paperwork it's all run from a US building, but the building is a US Lawyer which is a good friend of his so it's all "above board" but not if you see what I mean.

He may think this is the case but it's not true. What was the customer name on the invoice? This is the company you should sue for the debt.

It sounds like he isn't a director of the company though, however he is the manager.

Perhaps you should threaten to report him to the tax evasion hotline:
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/tax-evasion/index.htm

lucylucky

There is always the line to go down of bad publicity.

Would this company want to be mentioned in the local media in a negative light?

neneromanova

The customer name on the invoice was Maximum Technology International Inc as that was the company name.

TM1976

neneromanova wrote: »

The customer name on the invoice was Maximum Technology International Inc as that was the company name.

From what you have posted before this appears to be who he has established as the owner of the debt. The court order you have doesn't have any worth because it's against the director not the company. Not sure if you'd be able to prove if it had any assets in the UK by it appears that he has already admitted that he owns this company? - He's clearly an officer though if he's managing it.

I'm pretty sure this guy is evading tax though this arrangement though and I can explain if you are interested.

neneromanova

TM1976 wrote: »

I'm pretty sure this guy is evading tax though this arrangement though and I can explain if you are interested.

Oh yes please. Anything to show him you don't mess with small people

Premier_2

You're not allowed to post personal details (full names, addresses, etc) Vomityspice.

OP, who was the original contract with that you supplied?
A UK based individual, a UK based limited company (one that you suggest went t*ts up) or an american based company?

If an american company, does the company operate in this country ... or does a director just happen to have their home here?
Going back to the original supply contract, doesn't that specify what law applies to the contract? (not that it helps much if it was say English law but the debtor isn't located here)

neneromanova

Please remove your post Vomityspice. You can't post full addresses. Thank you for finding that for me though. Always amusing to see how much debt they were in and how much they were kidding themselves.

The contract was with the american based company. He just happens to live over here, (but is still british himself)

To be honest, annoyingly, as much as I don't want to, we're going to have to chalk this up to experience But I;d be interested to see what TM1976 has to say about the Tax Evasion.

Premier_2

neneromanova wrote: »

...The contract was with the american based company. He just happens to live over here, (but is still british himself)...

Unfortunately, you'd have to sue the american company in an american court.

An international lawyer may be willing to do this for you, but unless you are talking about a serious amount of money it probably isn't worth it.
(Edit: just seen it's only £4k - won't be worth it sorry)

As the company is incorporated (similar to our limited company), there'll be no mileage in pursing individuals (directors, shareholders, etc) of that company.

TM1976

neneromanova wrote: »

Oh yes please. Anything to show him you don't mess with small people

It't not uncommon to incorporate a company in another country and have a nominee director and even shareholder, the main reason for this is privacy, ie the true owner of the company cannot be traced easily - as you can see for a UK company this information is publicly available. This could be done for legitimate reasons but it isn't always.

For corporation tax purposes the company is resident where it's managed from, this appears to be in the UK - so he should be paying UK corporation tax. As he appears to have gone to great lengths to hide the ownership of the company it's likely he hasn't disclosed this.

Also the accounts are all in US$, so how does he get paid, does he just draw money out of the company bank account overseas? He should be paying income tax on this.

On top of this it seems to be a web based business depending on the nature of supply he may also be subject to EU VAT on his supplies to EU countries.

All of this could be done correctly and in an above board way, however. It's possible this business could be losing money like the other one, who knows - but the arrangement sounds a bit dodgy to me.