I am from Europe. How do I take legal action against an U. S. based firm?

[tradermcduck]

I know this question does not fit exactly into "Making Money on the Net" but it is about getting money and a lot of people will read my question in this part of the forum...

<Admin insert. I'm sorry but thats not the point. We need to try and keep posts in the appropriate Forum so I'm going to move this post to our Business Principals Forum where it belongs. Please join us. Thank you.>

I am from Austria, part of the European Union. A company terminated my publisher account. Legal Agreement says anyone can be terminated for any reason - you know that part ;-)

However I think they have no right to withhold my earnings! I know in the U.S. there is something called "small claims court". How can I at least threat with legal action? By the way they have a headquarter in London (also part of the European Union).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

If you have any further questions feel free to ask...

[Duchz]

<german>

Zuerst einmal Hallo! Auch ich komme aus Österreich (genauer aus Wien) und denke dass es auf gewisse Faktoren ankommt, ob du überhaupt daran denken solltest zu klagen.

</german>

Actually, most companies that use tactics like the one you described, handle many customers the way they did with you. Therefore you could try to find some other "victims" who feel that they were treated in a very bad way and together you could fill a lawsuit against the company if one of you lives in the U.S. Then you could be a witness

I guess it really depends on how much money they owe you. If it is not that much, forget about it

Finally, I guess there is a way to sue the company from the European Union , but be prepared to spend lots, and i mean lots of money on lawyer(s).

Good Luck!

[denasio]

Finally, I guess there is a way to sue the company from the European Union , but be prepared to spend lots, and i mean lots of money on lawyer(s).

<dutch>

Het heeft echt geen zin!

</dutch>

I have to agree, you will have to spend lots of money to do this. In the end you may spend more money than you receive. One tip that I can give you is set your Payment Threshold at a minimum. That way you won't loose much money.

[hooker]

im from europe too, and i am also a mistreated user of search123 that owns searchbucks now.
money was about 70 $... i could do nothing even if it was 700$

thats sad but true.

i hope something like an international law action for internet may come soon. - i dont think that will be -

[pk]

Originally posted by hooker
im from europe too, and i am also a mistreated user of search123 that owns searchbucks now.

what? they are pretty reliable.

[hooker]

i am not sure they are very reliable. i am also sure that they are not. searchbucks was ok, search123 is not

[Robert from SI]

Search123 is completely reliable.

[hooker]

It may be for US users. Let me completely tell you what happend. I was a searchbucks member, they were really nice people who had fast services and polite managers. I received my checks here in Istanbul. They did not have to send here for Turkey was shown as a "wanted" country on the agreement . But i asked them they said ok and then when the time to pay came, they did send the check.

Then search123 came on to the stage. I asked them about my accounts future and my money about 70$. They said they were sorry about me, and my account would be terminated. Ok but 70 bukcs? They were really sorry for they could not send to Istanbul...

Reliable?

[Anion]

You can sue them in a EU court. American courts almost always enforce the judgements of EU courts. I have heard of several complaints regarding Standard Internet Corporation. If I were you I would name the advertiser in addition to the broker as the defendant. Doing that makes it very easy to collect.


Cheers,
Anion

[tradermcduck]

Thanks for your answers so far! If the company does not reply to my emails and fax messages until monday I will send them a letter from my lawyer to both the U.S and the U.K. From my point of view they can terminate an account but not withhold my earnings.

By the way the company is very reputable. I was an affiliate for nearly a year. But it seems they have some troubles for 2 months now...

[ref]

You will be paid as long the company has some money to pay you. Otherwise you can not take the sandals from a …

[jemma]

tradermcduck wrote: I am from Austria, part of the European Union. A company terminated my publisher account. Legal Agreement says anyone can be terminated for any reason - you know that part ;-)

However I think they have no right to withhold my earnings! I know in the U.S. there is something called "small claims court". How can I at least threat with legal action? By the way they have a headquarter in London (also part of the European Union).

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!

Hi, in most affiliate agreements, you'll find statements about where lawsuits can be filed against the company. It's usually listed under LEGAL or GOVERNING LAW in their TOS.

I don't know much about how the EU works, but even if a case could be made that you should be able to sue outside the US, it seems really unlikely that a judge would agree to move the case to Austria from London.

It would be unreasonable/unfair to demand that a business travel across the continent to defend themselves against lawsuits (even they're full of double-dealing thieves , and deserve to suffer hardships ). A legitimate company could go bankrupt quickly if this kind of thing were allowed. Nuisance suits would pop-up everywhere, in the hopes that the defendant would be a no-show, so they'd win the case by default.

Anyway, I see I'm replying to an old note, so I hope everything got resolved in a friendly way, with no court involvement, and all your money paid!


Anion wrote: You can sue them in a EU court. American courts almost always enforce the judgements of EU courts.

Hi Anion, I may have misunderstood - this seems to be saying that American courts enforce judgements won in Europe, by actively going after the American businesses who ignore the judgement terms. If so, you're getting better service than we do! I've spoken to a number of people who've won court cases here, and still have had problems collecting what is owed them.

Generally, for cases in the US Civil Courts, this is what I was told happens (it may vary from state to state):

If you've won a case and the company refuses to pay up, there are a number of ways to collect your money, but they often involve paying money up front (although any amount spent would be added in to what the company owes you), and time.

A company that doesn't pay you after you win a case can face legal penalties, but you have to inform the court if they haven't complied with the terms of the judgement - usually a certain period of time has to elapse. And unfortunately, a creative lawyer might be able to get around the system, and the penalties.

So here in the States, the courts enforce judgements, in the sense of sending things through legal channels once they're notified of non-compliance. But you'd have to do the work to make things happen.

Lots of people do whatever's necessary to collect their money, but it's much more difficult when you live far from the courts involved, and unscrupulous affiliate programs have always counted on this obstacle.


Jemma

[ref]

For the European fellows: The Us [legal] system is built on lawsuits [and Canada follows it closely]. The last interesting development to follow is the Afro-Americans [Black – if you have no clue what I’m talking about] seeking compensation for the years spent in slavery few hundreds years ago. This will be fun to follow. Myself a descended of a Roman Empire occupied nation I’m planning to sue the Italian government for the damage done to my ancestors between 500 BC and 400 AC.

Now back to lawsuits. I have a close friend db programmer that spent already $30,000 CAD in a dispute for some work done in 1994. If you are planning to follow his steps, make sure that you have a good paid job to support the legal fees and patience…