Sued from overseas

Im just wondering. What would happen if il get sued by someone from US for example? Im from UK but im being hosted by an American company. How does that work? Which court would i have to attend etc

Thanks!

 

Your host would be the first one they'd go after to get the site shut down. Depends on if its worth the time pursuing after that.

 

Oh right...

Well its just i have heard a number of horror stories recently. Its seems like you guys sue with every opportunity lol. I bet the legal cost would be greater as well if suing someone in another country.

 

America is definately sue happy. The laywers have a stranglehold on many aspects of our existance here and they protect it ferociously.

 

Spill your coffee on your lap over here and everyone will laugh and call you an idiot. Spill it on your lap in the US and you can earn millions...

 

If you are legally doing business in the US, you typically have your business registered in one state or another. A civil suit would typically be filed against that business. Jurisdiction is usually the county of residence of the plaintiff in small claims court, although in civil court it could be either the county where your business is registered or the county of residence of the plaintiff depending on the situation.

If you are out of country, and not a business working in the US then a US court would have no jurisdiction over you.

However, many treaties are in place to hold civil claims valid across borders. And many treaties are in place to enforce criminal penalties for crimes across borders. I believe there are a series of cases where out of country hackers in places like Germany and ... that asian country where they cane you ... have been punished by their home countries for crimes in the US. I know there are several high profile civil claims against middle eastern companies and even a few against countries like Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

Many people set up corporations outside the country to try and avoid legal hassles and end up shooting themselves in the foot in the process by either picking the wrong country or not completing all of their paperwork in order to protect themselves. One guy who did it right was the Kazaa guy. He was underneath a series of shell corporations nested amongst countries who are very uncooperative. I think it was Australian courts who finally tracked him down, but it took years.

 

If my boys cease to function because McDonald's coffee was way too hot, you bet your pitooty I'm going to sue!

 

Some good information here. Thanks!

 

Defenetely, now when Business/Economics kicks in im alright. Just a bit useless at law. Well im waaay too small at the moment to set up a company.

 

You're never too small to protect yourself. I did the same mistake a decade ago and I almost lost everything.

 

You are more apt to have a car wreck, then have your business sued out from under you. You run websites, not have a business in a physical location. Unless you're like Kazaa, and are trying to hide who you are, or are stealing other's website information, you're probably not stepping on anybody's toes enough to get sued. If the car wreck is your fault... at least then you won't be sued from overseas.

 

You don't have to be doing anything shady to want to protect yourself. It's a crazy world.

Agreed. And contrary to what many think, it's not actually expensive or difficult at all to set up a U.S. company for your business. You can do it entirely online, and have the documents shipped to you within two weeks, with the total cost somewhere in the range of USD $400-600.

If you were to form a U.S.-based limited liability company, it'd not only give you better asset protection than a UK limited company, some states even allow you to retain anonymous ownership, meaning trigger-happy competitors or such can sue your business but will have a hard time finding out anything about the management. Not even to mention the tax benefits, once your revenue starts coming in.

 

I just did some research and its seems like a good idea to set up your own PLC, it takes a few days and only costs like £20-£100

 

I have to wonder what they are suing you over? You don't mention it. I would assume they have a legitimate case against you. In which case I don't feel like helping you out. I am in the USA and just because you are in the UK doesn't mean you can jerk me or my websites around. Depending on what you did would really make me decide wether to go after you. The UK is friendlier to sue from the USA than some countries.

 

"Im just wondering. What would happen if il get sued by someone from US for example?"

Im not being sued. Im just wondering how international online legal system works.

 

Go do a search for "personal jurisdiction". Can't get sued here unless you have enough "contacts" with the state you're being sued in. Internet law is kind of vague on this, so having your web site hosted in the U.S. might be enough to let them draw you in here.

 

Could anybody recommend a country which offers decent hosting and where the legal system does not encourage frivolous law suits?

 

I can only phrase it like the pirate bay does.

http://static.thepiratebay.org/dreamworks_response.txt
"Sweden is not a state in the United States of America."

As long as no local laws are violated and/or you risk being extradicted (?) which usually only can happen for crimes with a high punishment. No goverment would like to have their citizens convicted under a foreign countrys laws unless a crime has been commited.

I have been recieving a couple of legal threats but I'm not very concerned because the simple fact that most of them are totally silly to me as a swede. Ofcourse I probably would risk some trouble if I even went to the USA, but why the hell would i want todo that. I could just aswell go to Uganda or some other third world country ...