Small claims ruling made in another country but defendant now lives in US

[BigJaj]

Jurisdiction

South America

A few years ago, I hired a lawyer in another country to file a lawsuit against someone there. Of course, I went there to sign and notarize a retainer agreement with him. When I found out many months later that the courthouse rejected the filing and I followed up with him, he never answered me again. Upon a more honorable lawyer's advice there, I filed a complaint through their court system's disciplinary commission.

Fast forward to today, I got off a disciplinary hearing via videocall and it was first time seeing that original lawyer again since years ago. Given that I can only speak basic Spanish at best, they scheduled another hearing in 7 months to provide me a translator. Found out today that he moved to and now lives here in the US. Florida to be precise. I'm in Virginia.

So if the judge in the other country rules in my favor and orders him to refund me whatever out of his retainer fee I paid, would I need to coordinate the repayment directly with him or through a lawyer or courthouse close to me or him? Would it be a good idea to ask if that courthouse can produce some ruling documents in English?

 

[army judge]

Would it be a good idea to ask if that courthouse can produce some ruling documents in English?

Now might be the moment you begin letting this go.

Sometimes, no matter how cautious one lives her/his life, he/she ends up getting snookered.

Don't rub salt in your wounds, increasing your pain, take some deep breaths, calm down, collect yourself, and forget about getting even.

We're all more vulnerable when we convince ourselves to get even, versus just getting away and letting it go.

The time to take a pause or slow down is BEFORE you decide ANYTHING, not make more mistakes trying to unravel mistakes caused by previous haste.

Slow your roll, ease your soul.

 

[Tax Counsel]

.So if the judge in the other country rules in my favor and orders him to refund me whatever out of his retainer fee I paid, would I need to coordinate the repayment directly with him or through a lawyer or courthouse close to me or him? Would it be a good idea to ask if that courthouse can produce some ruling documents in English?

You of course can ask him to cough up the money and see if he'll do it voluntarily. But if he resists that then you would need to domesticate the foreign judgment in the state where the defendant has assets. It's not a terribly expensive thing to do unless he puts up a fight contesting the domestication. I can't see him wanting to do that over a small claims judgment. Once the judgment is domesticated you may collect it like any other judgment in that state. I suggest you get some help from a lawyer for the domestication. One of the things you'll need is a translation of the judgment to English that is acceptable to the U.S. court.

Also, if he still has assets in that other country that can be attached to pay the judgment, that might help you get paid too. You'd want to check on what assets you can get in that other country and what the process would cost you.

 

[Zigner]

In the body of the post, the OP refers to a "disciplinary hearing". I don't think the OP is going to be getting some sort of court judgment that can be domesticated. Sounds more like a fine.

 

[zddoodah]

So if the judge in the other country rules in my favor and orders him to refund me whatever out of his retainer fee I paid, would I need to coordinate the repayment directly with him or through a lawyer or courthouse close to me or him?

This question seems more a matter of practicalities than a question of law.

Obviously, we have no possible way of knowing what sort of order the "disciplinary commission" in the unidentified country might issue. The subject header of your post mentions a "small claims ruling," but your actual post says nothing about small claims court. If you had a judgment from another country, then you could seek to domesticate it in Florida pursuant to the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act. However, we have no way of knowing whether the "disciplinary commission's" order will constitute an enforceable judgment under the unidentified country's laws. If it doesn't, you'll probably have to go through some procedure in that country to turn it into an enforceable judgment. You'll then have to go through a process to have the judgment certified, including obtaining an apostille from a governmental agency. You can then obtain a certified translation of the foreign judgment and go through the process under the UFMJRA to have the foreign judgment turned into an enforceable Florida judgment. Having been through this process with a judgment from an English-speaking jurisdiction (i.e., we didn't have translation costs), this will likely cost a minimum of $30-40k and take at least 3-4 years (a lot of that depends on how quickly or slowly the process works in that other country). In that regard, I disagree with the prior response that said it shouldn't be terribly expensive. It will be expensive even if the debtor doesn't contest things.

How much money is at issue?

Would it be a good idea to ask if that courthouse can produce some ruling documents in English?

You can ask, but no court in any country is going to conduct business in a language other than an official language, and the only South American country where English is an official language is Guyana. Your reference to the proceedings having been conducted in Spanish tells me that's not the country at issue.

 

[BigJaj]

I misworded the subject. Should've started with something like "Potential small claims..."

Well for the particular retainer and case we mutually signed and notarized, his fees costed me about $550-600. That other lawyer there who I now consider honorable told me that of course the disciplinary hearing is mainly to determine whether to disbar that original lawyer. But she said it's not uncommon that the judge may also order him to refund me the fees.

I wouldn't necessarily expect to get the refund if any at all. I'd be at least content with the original lawyer's disbarrment.