Small claims lawsuit question

[Kirby]

Can a foreigner (Japanese) sue a citizen (Alabama resident) in small claims court?

My girlfriend's roommate owes a mutual friend of our's $600 for something that took place in Japan a while back. He's back in the states for school and has been trying to get his money for about 6 months now, but she's been ignoring him.

Short of Judge Judy, I know nothing about lawsuits, but I'd like to at least advise him in the right direction to get his money with the least amount of drama (too late, facebook FTL).

 

[Mike Gayner]

... something that took place in Japan...

This should give you some indication.

 

[Kirby]

This should give you some indication.

i think it had to do something with cancelling a cellphone contract.

edit: i think you can sue where the person lives.

 

[Brigandier]

Um...

 

[Kirby]

Um...

From what I understand you can sue in either the place that it happened, or where the person resides.

 

[Brigandier]

From what I understand you can sue in either the place that it happened, or where the person resides.

 

[Lifted]

I'm 99.37% sure that Louisiana handles all cases for incidents that took place in Japan.

 

[Kirby]

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/consumerism/small_al.html

Where to sue: Where defendant resides, or injury or property damage occurred. Corporation resides where it does business.

 

[dawp]

even if you do sue and win, you may still be sol. You will get a judgment against him but you wont be able to force him to pay. And when he goes back, that judgment most likely wont transfer.

 

[TecHNooB]

even if you do sue and win, you may still be sol. You will get a judgment against him but you wont be able to force him to pay. And when he goes back, that judgment most likely wont transfer.

you mean her? perhaps i misread.

 

[dawp]

you mean her? perhaps i misread.

I misread, I thought the other was japanese also, but what I said about suing still stands, you can't force them to pay.

 

[Genx87]

even if you do sue and win, you may still be sol. You will get a judgment against him but you wont be able to force him to pay. And when he goes back, that judgment most likely wont transfer.

The court will put a lien on any assets you can find.

 

[1sikbITCH]

I did a couple minutes of googling and could only find references to U.S. Circuit Court cases. Here is one of them:

http://www.uniset.ca/other/cs5/630F2d876.html

In this case and the others that I found, the courts ruled that since the country where the offense occurred had laws similar to ours that made that offense a crime, the U.S. court could hear the case since the defendant now lived in the U.S.

Since your case stems from a civil matter instead of criminal and the small claims court is not a Circuit Court, I do not know if they will accept jurisdiction, but there does seem to be a precedence of a sort.

 

[sjwaste]

Start here: http://judicial.alabama.gov/library/rules_civ_procedure.cfm

Look at Rule 82 (Jurisdiction and Venue) then look at Rule 4.1 (Service In-State).

Assuming the person is in the US and in Alabama, it's quite possible you can in fact sue her. Not sure if you can do it in small claims, or even if Alabama has a small claims court. But you can do that research, starting with the link I gave you.

This is not legal advice. I am not licensed in Alabama. I've never even been to Alabama.

 

[Joel Olstein]

Japan isn't a real place

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Start here: http://judicial.alabama.gov/library/rules_civ_procedure.cfm

Look at Rule 82 (Jurisdiction and Venue) then look at Rule 4.1 (Service In-State).

Assuming the person is in the US and in Alabama, it's quite possible you can in fact sue her. Not sure if you can do it in small claims, or even if Alabama has a small claims court. But you can do that research, starting with the link I gave you.

This is not legal advice. I am not licensed in Alabama. I've never even been to Alabama.

IANALB

This is good advice.

 

[Kirby]

Start here: http://judicial.alabama.gov/library/rules_civ_procedure.cfm

Look at Rule 82 (Jurisdiction and Venue) then look at Rule 4.1 (Service In-State).

Assuming the person is in the US and in Alabama, it's quite possible you can in fact sue her. Not sure if you can do it in small claims, or even if Alabama has a small claims court. But you can do that research, starting with the link I gave you.

This is not legal advice. I am not licensed in Alabama. I've never even been to Alabama.

Awesome! Thanks!