Being sued while living abroad, what should I do?

[Jessica Johnson]

I got an email from a lawyer said I am being sued by a tenant. I no longer own that building and I currently live in a different country. I don’t think the lawyer knows that I live abroad and I no longer own the building. They have not properly served the documents yet because they do not know my oversea address.

So my question is what should I do? Do I need to hire a lawyer now or wait until they serve me and find a lawyer? Do I need to move my assets somewhere else? I think the county where they filed a case does not have jurisdiction over me since I am a expat. I know it is best to find a lawyer but they charge a lot to just talk to you and I want to know what you guys think before bringing a lawyer.

Thanks so much,

[Paul T.]

Jessica:

The following is not legal advice.

There are several issues you may want to consider and think about.

First, you may not want to respond to the lawyer's email. Although you have likely heard it hundreds of times before, it bears repeating: “Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.” Let your lawyer or insurance adjustor do the communicating.

Second, you may not want to ignore the lawyer’s email. You state you haven’t been served, but I think what you mean is perhaps you have not been “personally served.” If the lawyer tries unsuccessfully to personally serve you, he may be able to serve you by publication in the county where the real property is located (or another location). If that were to happen, you would not necessarily know you were served, even though the court would consider service by publication valid, and a judgment could be entered against you without your knowledge. Then it might be too late to defend yourself.

Normally, when someone is served (or receives notice of a claim or potential claim), they forward those documents directly to their insurance agent (or broker) on their landlord policy, and ask the agent to tender the defense of the claim to the insurer. You don’t say whether the claim is for personal injury or breach of contract or other (and maybe you don’t know). If the claim is for personal injury, your landlord policy insurer will probably hire a lawyer to defend the lawsuit. Let that lawyer respond to the plaintiff’s attorney’s email. If the claim arises from breach of contract or other, the insurer’s duty to defend may or may not be triggered. Your insurance agent who sold you the policy should be able to answer that question at least on a preliminary level.

If you have an established relationship with a lawyer, definitely speak to him or her. In the unlikely event the insurance company on your landlord policy does not accept the tender of your defense, your personal attorney is in the best position to point out the error of their thinking (if any). If you don’t have an established relationship with a lawyer, for now, you might want to take the wait and see approach, and see if the insurer on your landlord policy accepts the tender of your defense.

You ask if you need to move your assets somewhere else. In many jurisdictions, the transfer of assets to avoid creditors, is a felony (as is advising someone to do so). Any honest lawyer (yes, perhaps some think that is an oxymoron), will likely advise you strongly against moving assets somewhere else. That ship has already sailed.

If in reviewing the claim and/or complaint, the insurance adjuster for your landlord policy insurer, or the attorney it appoints to defend you, determines that the claim or lawsuit mistakenly names you as a defendant because the plaintiff mistakenly believes you still own the building, they will probably point out that error to the plaintiff’s attorney and presumably get you promptly dismissed from the lawsuit. If, on the other hand, you did own the building when the (presumed) injury occurred, the adjuster or attorney will likely then determine whether perhaps the statute of limitations has run out on the claim. If so, again, they will likely be able to summarily get you dismissed from the lawsuit.

If it appears that you owned the building when the claimed injury occurred, and it appears that the statute of limitations has not run on the claim, and even if your landlord policy insurer accepts the tender of the defense and hires an attorney for you, you may want to discuss with him/her whether you should “give notice” of the claim to your HO3 (homeowners policy), HO4 (renter’s policy), and/or umbrella policy insurer (if any). Most policies give the insurer an “out” to deny coverage if you don’t promptly give them notice of a claim, and even though initially one may think that none of these policies could possibly provide coverage for the claim, the claim could change with the passage of time.

Good luck!