Bartertown.com

Hey everyone,

I have a problem completing a deal with someone (communication has bogged down) and we are talking about a serious amount of stuff here, which is why I would like to have legal advice from a lawyer in the United States.

Problem is: I live in Austria, Central Europe and my legal insurance only covers cases and consultancy in the old world (that's continental Europe for you guys ).
Now I was wondering if it made sense to hire a US lawyer to safeguard my interests in this case but to do this, I would need to know a couple of things:
A) what can a lawyer effectively achieve or would it be better to take this issue to another institution?
B) does it make sense to hire a lawyer from the same state as the trading partner?
C) What are the costs in the US for such a consultancy of a lawyer and probably execution of a case afterwards? Are there rough estimates for that?

Any help on my questions would be highly appreciated.

Thank you in anticipation!

Stefan

BEFORE I START TO ANSWER, PLEASE REALIZE I AM NOT A LAWYER NOR AM I LICENSED TO GIVE LEGAL ADVICE IN ANYWAY. I am merely a student and speaking in a general conversation. YOU MUST CONSULT AND FACT CHECK ALL INFORMATION WITH A LICENSED LAWYER. I WILL HOLD NO LEGAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE STATEMENTS MADE BELOW.

The first thing you have to look at is jurisdiction. (I can't speak for Europe) but in the US if it is State to State then the lawsuit can be filled in either state. You may want to see if there is any deal between Austria and the US for Jurisdiction. If there is not you could be completely out of luck.

To answer your questions:
a) it all depends if we are talking about a federal or state case. (Again it depends on the agreements between our countries). If it is mail fraud then it is a federal (as in not just a state issue) case. Then yes, a lawyer can help and get your stuff/value of stuff back- assuming the other party has the money to pay.

b) if it is a mail fraud (which is federal) it shouldn't matter where the lawyer is. The best bet is to find out where the case would be tried and hire a lawyer from there (less travel fees)

c) US Lawyers are expensive, very expensive. Unless this is for a large sum of money (in the thousands if not more) then it is a waste. Most lawyers (who are not working on a cut of the settlement) charge $50-$100 on up per hour. That is for every hour they talk to you, are in court, read e-mails, etc.


The best course of action is to start with the authorities and go for the criminal violation and not the tort violation since the police will be the ones to take care of it.
For this you would contact the local authorities in the offending parties home town and go from there. Before you call I would get all of your receipts, dates, and facts in line so that you have all of the information ready. Make sure to record everyone who you speak with along with the time and date.

Hope this helps, again I am not a legal professional in any means and this is not legal advice, just friendly conversation.

-Left

Thank you very much. I will see what I can do from over here now.