Unit 14: Debtor – creditor (solution)
RESEARCH STRATEGY
There are many strategies for researching terms and concepts on the Internet. The nature of your research, and your familiarity with its related legal English vocabulary, will determine the best choice. Such research sometimes requires a variety of strategies.
In this example, the problem requires you to examine both broad issues as well as more narrow but complex issues.
Broad research and term identification are often best done using directories (see more about directories in task 10).
1) Are US judgments enforceable in Jersey?
To answer this question, it would be useful to find a directory of legal resources for Jersey.
Using the Google search engine (www.google.com), enter the following search query:
Jersey law
One of the first links is to the Jersey Legal Information Board. Click on that link to find a variety of resources relating to Jersey Law.
Enter the following search query into website’s search bar in the top right-hand corner of the page:
enforcing foreign judgments
Scan through the resulting hits to find out whether American judgments are enforceable in Jersey.
Remember to use your browser’s search function to help you find particular words and phrases (e.g. foreign judgment) on any particular page.
Answer
The enforceability of foreign judgments is in part governed by the following pieces of legislation:
Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) (Jersey) Law 1960
http://www.jerseylegalinfo.je/Law/display.aspx?URL=
lawsinforce%5cconsolidated%5c04%5c04.480_
JudgemntsReciprocalEnforcementLaw1960_
RevisedEdition_31August2004.htm
Judgments (Reciprocal Enforcement) Rules 1961 (revised edition showing the law as at 31 August 2004)
http://www.jerseylegalinfo.je/Law/display.aspx?URL=l
awsinforce%5cconsolidated%5c04%5c04.480.60_
ReciprocalEnforcementRules1961_RevisedEdition_
31August2004.htm
Reciprocal Enforcement of Foreign Judgments (Jersey) Order 1973
http://www.jerseylegalinfo.je/Law/display.aspx?URL=
lawsinforce%5chtm%5cLawFiles%5c1970-1979%2fJersey_
Order_in_Council_05-1973.htm
These provide for the enforcement in Jersey of judgments given in countries which accord reciprocal treatment to judgments given in Jersey.
American judgments are enforceable in Jersey, a fact which is repeatedly confirmed by the case law to be found at the website of the Jersey Legal Information Board.
One example of such as case is Dick v United Kingdom [1998 JLR 236] in which it is confirmed that US judgments may be enforced in Jersey.
http://www.jerseylegalinfo.je/Judgments/JerseyLawReports
/display.aspx?cases/JLR1998/JLR980236.htm
2) Are US judgments enforceable in your jurisdiction?
Use the skills and research techniques you have developed during tasks 1–14 to find out whether American judgments are enforceable in your own jurisdiction.
If you already know the answer to this question, practise the Internet skills discussed in question 1 by choosing an alternative foreign jurisdiction, e.g. England.
Answer
Full details concerning the enforceability of US judgments in foreign jurisdictions may be found at the travel section of the US Department of State’s website:
http://travel.state.gov/law/info/judicial/judicial_691.html
3) Are contingency fee arrangements permissible in Jersey?
When searching for narrower or more complex concepts on the Web, search engines can very useful, particularly for identifying terms and definitions.
Using the Google search engine, enter the following search query:
define:contingency fee
This will provide you with at least two reliable definitions.
Now let us find out whether contingency fees are permissible in Jersey. Using the Google search engine, enter the following search query:
contingency fees Jersey
While Google returns many hits, most (if not all) of them are for the American state of New Jersey. The following search query will lead you to all UK-based websites which refer to contingency fees in Jersey (Channel Islands), leaving out all websites with references to New Jersey (USA):
“contingency fees” Jersey –“New Jersey” site:.co.uk
This narrows the search considerably. Unfortunately, none of the hits returned look particularly useful.
Search Tip: Boolean operators in the Google search bar
There are many quick ways of fine-tuning a Google search without having to go into the Advanced Search page, and it is worth learning and using some of the basic Boolean operators. Some of the most useful ones include:
“New Jersey” finds pages containing New Jersey as a phrase.
Jersey –“New Jersey” finds pages containing the word Jersey, but NOT New Jersey.
site:.co.uk finds pages whose domain is .co.uk.
~”contingency fee” finds pages with words or phrases synonymous or similar to contingency fee (e.g. no win no fee, conditional fee).
date:3 finds pages published/updated in the last three months.
See the Google Help: Cheat Sheet (http://www.google.com/help/cheatsheet.html) for more details.
Although Jersey is part of the United Kingdom, it does have its own domain name. Find the domain name for Jersey by scanning through the list at the Norid domain registration site (http://www.norid.no/domenenavnbaser/domreg.html).
The domain name for Jersey is .je.
Using the information above, think of a search query that would find pages with information on contingency fees in Jersey.
Using the Google search engine, enter the following search query:
~“contingency fee” site:.je
The first link is to a university past paper in the area of Private International Law and Company Law (Jersey). Note that this search has taken us back to the Jersey Legal Information Board, as featured in question 1.
Scanning through the paper will provide you with an answer to question 3. However, as a university past exam paper is not a particularly authoritative document and does not make explicit the situation in Jersey concerning contingency fees, it would be worth cross-checking the information with another site.
Unfortunately, it would seem that we have exhausted all of the possible ways of finding out whether or not contingency fees are permissible in Jersey. Let us try one last search:
Using the Google search engine, enter the following search query:
Legal fees Jersey –“New Jersey” site:.je
This will broaden the search to general legal fees in Jersey. Scan through the documents to see if you can find any references to contingency fees.
One promising site is the Jersey Citizens Advice Bureau (http://www.cab.org.je/submenu_page_view.php?menu_id=41&submenu_id=119).
Click on the link and run the search query legal fees through the search bar at the top right-hand corner of the site.
While the site doesn’t make any explicit mention of contingency fees, it does state that the following:
Legal Fees
An agreement on fees should be set out in a letter of engagement. You may be required to pay on account on a monthly or weekly basis. Make sure you obtain from your lawyer an estimate of the fee s/he proposes to charge or the likely range of such fees.
Again, it does not state explicitly that contingency fees are not available. However, at the very least they must be very uncommon, as so far only one website has made explicit mention of them.
To be absolutely sure, remember that you can always contact one of the lawyers listed in the many Jersey websites you have seen. A short email would provide a final answer to your question, and may save much valuable time.
Let us compare our results for question 3 with those for question 4.
Answer
Contingency fee arrangements are not generally available in Jersey, although they are increasingly common in England.
As to whether or not the contingency fee arrangement that formed part of the US judgment will be permissible, this will be a question for the court to decide.
We have already established that US judgments are enforceable in Jersey, although it is possible for a court to strike out those parts of a judgment that contravene domestic law.
It is very possible that the court will apply English law and allow the contingency arrangement, although it is worth noting that the US Department of State’s website states:
“…a principal stumbling block appears to be the perception of many foreign states that U.S. money judgments are excessive according to their notions of liability.”
http://travel.state.gov/law/info/judicial/judicial_691.html
4) Are contingency fee arrangements permissible in your jurisdiction?
Use the skills and research techniques you have developed during tasks1–14 to find out whether contingency fees are enforceable in your own jurisdiction.
If you already know the answer to this question, practise the Internet skills discussed in question 3 by choosing an alternative foreign jurisdiction, e.g. England.
Answer
Example jurisdiction: England,
Either of the following Google searches shows quite clearly that contingency fees are available in England:
“no win no fee” site:.co.uk
“contingency fees” site:.co.uk
Many of the sites returned by the search are for legal firms, e.g.: www.youclaim.co.uk/YouClaim_No_Win_No_Fee.htm
Others lead to news stories concerning recent criticisms of contingency fee arrangements, e.g.:
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3827419.stm