Suing some one abroad

Mishomeister

Hello Guys,


Sorry if I am posting this on the wrong board.


Basically the friend of mine, who is self employed has provided the client of his who is a British Expat residing in India with some service for which there is set fee to be paid and the agreement was signed confirming the clients agreement with the services provided and the fees due for those.


Now, after the service has been provided the client is trying this and that to talk himself out of paying.


My question is how to take some one who is UK Expat in India to court?


Many Thanks

pinkshoes

Do you have his address in India?

Mishomeister

pinkshoes wrote: »

Do you have his address in India?

Yes, I believe he has.

ssparks2003

I think that there are a couple of points that your friend needs to consider.

1. How much money is he owed. Is it worth the hassle?

2. How much more money is he willing to spend in trying to chase down the debt?

3. Does the person actually have the funds to pay?

4. How will your friend enforce the debt?

Mishomeister

I think that there are a couple of points that your friend needs to consider.

1. How much money is he owed. Is it worth the hassle?


About £1000

2. How much more money is he willing to spend in trying to chase down the debt?


I understand the money spent can be recovered if he wins the court.

3. Does the person actually have the funds to pay?


I would very much believe so

4. How will your friend enforce the debt?


He has UK bank accounts for which numbers are known. He also has a property in the UK

LadyDee

Another question would be what jurisdiction would a claim come under? Where was the contract formed? If it was established that the appropriate court would be an Indian one, then how would any judgment be enforced?

steampowered

If the services were provided in England and Wales, it is perfectly possible to sue this person through the English and Welsh court system.

However, when we are talking about suing someone at an address outside the European Union, there are a lot of hoops to jump through.

All in all, following the proper legal process for issuing a claim against someone outside the EU (even in relation to an English law contract) is completely prohibitive for a £1000 debt.

First, unless there is a contract with a clause conferring jurisdiction on the English courts (which any good set of T&Cs would have), your friend would need to apply to court to sue a defendant outside the jurisdiction. He would get this if the contract was performed in the UK though.

Second, even if there is a contract with a jurisdiction clause, your friend would have to serve the court documents on the defendant using the Hague Convention process, which involves going through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/service-of-documents-and-taking-of-evidence#how-your-documents-are-processed-overseas).

Third, even if your friend gets a court judgment, he would need to find a way to enforce that. Enforcement in India takes years and is practically impossible. It would be pretty easy to enforce against a UK bank account though, provided your friend has the account details and the account has money in it.

Unless your friend has some sort of business address for this person in the UK, which would dramatically shortcut the process? Even if it is a sketchy address, it could be worth having a punt at issuing a claim at that UK address. The court fee for claims issued online against an address in the UK is pretty cheap, and if he gets a judgment that opens up the ability of getting money out of the bank accounts. Even if the judgment is potentially open to challenge later, getting money out of the account puts your friend in a stronger position.

Mishomeister

steampowered wrote: »

All in all, following the proper legal process for issuing a claim against someone outside the EU (even in relation to an English law contract) is completely prohibitive for a £1000 debt.

First, unless there is a contract with a clause conferring jurisdiction on the English courts (which any good set of T&Cs would have), your friend would need to apply to court to sue a defendant outside the jurisdiction. He would get this if the contract was performed in the UK though..

Would you mind clarifying what kind of prohibitive fees you are talking here about when refering for the permission to sue the client outside of jurisdiction of UK courts?
Can bearing in mind the case is pretty straight forward with the exception of the foreign residency can my friend apply for the above permission without the services of the professional and therefore keeping the costs to a minimum.

steampowered

Mishomeister wrote: »

Would you mind clarifying what kind of prohibitive fees you are talking here about when refering for the permission to sue the client outside of jurisdiction of UK courts?
Can bearing in mind the case is pretty straight forward with the exception of the foreign residency can my friend apply for the above permission without the services of the professional and therefore keeping the costs to a minimum.

Hello,

You would apply for permission to serve out of the jurisdiction using form N244 with an accompanying witness statement. The fee for this is £255. The requirements to get permission are quite technical. You could try to wing it without legal assistance I suppose but it would be a challenge.

To serve the Defendant in India, you would need to serve through the FCO using the Hague Convention process. I don't know what the fees are for this, you'd probably need to contact the FCO to find out. I suspect this would be by far the most difficult and lengthy part of the process, which is why I would suggest trying to use a UK address if at all possible.

This would be in addition to the usual fees you'd pay for any court case (for a £1,000 claim you are looking at a £80 issue fee and a £115 hearing fee).

There would be additional costs for enforcement if you need to do that (e.g. the fee for requesting a third party debt order against a UK bank account is £110).