You are fighting in a Foreign Court - Example 2

Global business frequently brings litigation in foreign (interstate and international) forums.

My client was an American company. Its management resided in Israel. Their customer was an Australian retiree who lived in
New South Wales (customer).

The customer was defrauded by a third party. The customer then engaged my client to reclaim their money – which my client did. Rather than being grateful, the customer refused to pay.

My client was honest. The customer, however, was not. This was despite the customer presenting himself as the ‘little Aussie battler’.

The NSW District of Court (at Sydney) was the appropriate forum. The reasons included the quantum of the claim, and that the customer resided (and had assets) in NSW.

 Despite the courtroom theatrics engaged in by the customer and his lawyer, our documentary evidence and work prior to trial proved determinative.

Our victory became sweeter when the Court ordered that the customer pay all of my client’s legal costs. Why? With my guidance, the Court found that the customer should have, but did not, accept our settlement offer at the beginning of the case. Accordingly, my client deserved to be compensated for all their legal costs thereafter incurred.

Next time we will discuss a victory in the Magistrates’ Court of Western Australia at Midland, for a Perth-based mid-sized business.