Court Action

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Is it possible to be sued in the French Courts for a disputed builders bill in UK, there has been no response to our correspondence, just a sharp latter from a Paris based Advocats threatening action here.

[Pontdugard]

Just a couple or more questions for you (please)

where did you enter into the contract?

what was the contract for?

what were the terms of the contract?

If you entered into the contract in the UK was it with a UK organisation, individual or corporate body?

Did the contract involve works in France?

If the contract was basically in the UK then subject to UK law. what was the clause in this respect in your contract subject to UK or French law?

Has anyone obtained judgment against you or threatened to obtain judgement and if so was it in the UK or France.

Either way if someone obtains judgement they can enforce that judgement either in the UK or in France. The latter takes some time and is only really on if the sum is relatively substantial.

If you can respond to the above I will come back to your with my opinion but I would suggest seeing a lawyer asap.

[Richardbk]

yes you can. It is part of the Hague convention whereby people in countries that have signed up to the Hague convention can take civil action against those in another country. Both France and the UK have signed. The court action has to be formally processed by the respective ministry of justice (or equivalent) in both countries and eventually the court order will be processed at local level- i.e the court closest to where you live - it is standard practice that the court is located in the area of the defendent.

However I would add that when we tried to sue a UK garage from here in France, as part of a much larger french legal case we found the process too complex and expensive to follow through so in effect we gave up.

regs

Richard

[Acj]

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[Miki]

Bunnie,

We are far more exhuberant about buying cheeses in Sainsbury's or Tescos in Chichester (The outlaws live there!)than any shop in France, other than Philippe Olivers shop in the Pas de Calais.

The French blues (including their champ Roquefort) lose out to the King of all blues; Stilton.

Hard cheeses here don't come close to good old fashione mature Cheddar and many of the other hard bunch.

And just take a look around the shops in France, loads of same(ish) cheeses just packaged differently.

Now take a look around a good English supermarket, cheddars of all kinds and all tasting different. Double Gloucesters, simply on their own or with something added.

Wensleydales with chives, pineapple and any other delicious tried and tested filling. And loads and loads of other super delicious cheeses from oop north or down south.

Someone marketed the cheese market very well here but after many years I am now astounded that even with a large selection of hundreds of cheeses and flipping loads of disappointment, we now actually buy very few of them to eat ourselves.

What we do buy to eat ourselves are Motin, that Pyrenean mountain cheese with black rind, Roquefort (when the stilton is no more at the house!)Brebay (Sp) and a couple of others, plus a nice cheese for raclet evenings.

My opinion and Tina's (although she doesn't know yet !)

Vive le fromage Britannique!!


Miki