Brazil Legal Judgement / Lawsuit Against Me

Hi Ignacio, they can technically pursue the assets through a Letter rogatory. It s a procedure through which one court asks for int'l cooperation to another. Fairly simple but time consuming.

Hope it had helped.
Best

ignacioforum wrote:

Hi all. I am a UK citizen and all my assets are in the UK.  I have had various business dealings in Brazil over the last decade in the south of Brazil (Santa Caterina).

I have recently been the subject of an ongoing lawsuit in the SC courts which has finally resulted in a judgement against me (in 2019) of around $100,000 USD .

So is there any way the lawsuit can be used against me internationally, or would the plaintiff have to come to sue me in the UK (a totally different legal system which they would find much more difficult in my opinion!).

Anyone have any experience in this area?

Thank you!

I have had business and personal dealings in Brazil in which I was the one suing and one is still pending.

In your case, yes he can come and open a lawsuit against you in the UK (personal and/or subject
matter jurisdiction). He can also sue you emanating in Brazil through Article 10 (a) of the Hague
Convention by Central Authority as designated by the UK.

However, there is a "service process" where they have to serve you the papers to appear in court. If
they can´t collect from you because of lack of property concentration in Brazil, they might decide
to tackle the process overseas.

The questions would be:

1. How difficult is it for the documentation or the witnesses to travel to the UK?
2. Is the proper selection of forum to hear your case (personal and subject matter jurisdiction) easily delineated in UK courts?
3. Is this an individual or a company that has large operating expenses to be able to go after you?

Remember, you have to be served the papers to be able to respond to court summons.

robal

Normally intl judicial cooperation is based only to execute and recognize foreign decisions, so there is not much opening for redebating the case if there is a request for execution through international corporation

And UK is part of intl judicial cooperation network through the hague. But yes You have to be served.

To sergiobotinha:

There are reasons that certain foreign defendants feel court bias in a host country - not only in Brazil but to other countries as well.

Therefore I would ask you this:

What would be another recourse if he changes his personal address to a non-Hague country and also domicile his company or business (if he has one) to another non-Hague country where the "service process" is not completed?

I´m sure Bolivia, Jamaica, India, Indonesia and the Philippines are non-Hague countries...

robal

The thing is that judicial cooperation is normal even between states that do not participate in the Hague Conventions. The Hague convention on enforcement of legal decisions abroad only creates some mechanisms to make it (a bit) easier.

But of course there are countries that do not cooperate with good level, or are slower, that Brazil does not have an Embassy in, etc