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JUDGEMENTS IN FLORIDA (TIMESHARE)

Foreign judgement adjudicated in Florida will be subject to federal/State treaties which the USA has with the UK (and/or the EU which the UK is a member of).

At present, there are no treaties between the UK and USA (in respect to the enforcement orders by USA State or federal Judgements) for judgements domiciled and obtained in USA courts.

In short there is no treaty and as such any USA creditor is not able to enforce their debt (against UK citizens and their assets) in the UK.

To have effect in the UK, the creditor may seek the courts indulgence in the registering of the debt and against the creditor whom is liable in a USA judgement, however to do this the debtor will have to seek permission from High Court of Justice in England.

Upon receipt of a request the High Courts are obliged to be satisfied that particular conditions have been met.

Therefore the USA/ Floridian judgement are required by the High Court and that judgement will have to be certified by the Floridian Court who issued the judgement.

A full and complete translation of the judgement into English (not American English) and an affidavit in support of their application to enter judgement in the UK (for sums alleged to be due and owing in the USA and by the UK resident).

The entire document will have to be lodged with the High Court of Justice in England,

On the down side the application is made ex parte to the Master Secretary’s Department.

Once the application is received ‘Judgement to be registered’ a notice is then given to the defendant (the debtor) informing them the judgement has been registered. The notice will reserve for the debtor a period of 21 days in which to contest (an application to set aside before the Master in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court.) the registration of the debt and if the debtor is successful then the alleged debt will be vacated and costs will be awarded to the debtor.

In the event the creditor attends and challenges the debtor’s application, which resulted in the judge’s refusal to grant the debtors “set aside application” then the debtor will have the judgement registered, and be liable for the costs of the creditor in the application.

In respect to procedure at all times a party is seeking to enforce a foreign judgement whilst in the jurisdiction of the UK they will have to concede to all English rules and CPR procedures.

The action to enforce the judgements in the UK is an action in Common Law. In contrast to the Brussels Convention, The Common Law rules are more onerous and restrictive.

The foreign judgement is ‘the cause of action’ by the creditor and an application for summary judgement can be issued on the grounds that there is no real defence.

For a foreign judgement to be enforced in the English courts they must be satisfied:

  • the foreign court had jurisdiction to render the judgement

and

  • that judgement accords to the English rules of private international law.

The issue in all timeshare issue are testing and any application for summary judgement in the UK attracts a very high barrier of proof from the creditor. The court will not look into ever issue when dealing with an application of summary judgement. The main focus will be the defendant has no real prospect of successfully defending the claim or issue.

This course may not be of interest to some who wish to dispose of Floridian timeshare contracts this way, however it has proven a good tool in respect to the negotiation The Timeshare Consumers Association has had with reverse premium brokers, They have investigated the issues raised and had reached an accord with The Timeshare Consumer Association therefore substantially reducing their exit premiums from £5,000 to £2,500.

 

For more information regarding this article or assistance in any other timeshare related issues please contact the TCA on 01908 881058 or email: info@TimeshareConsumerAssociation.org.uk