I signed a business contract based on Quebec civil law in 2006 with a Florida company and two Florida individuals. In the contract they agreed to transfer certain IP assets and to not compete against me in the same industry. In return I was to use them as a supplier. After I grew the business into a huge success, they disappeared with all the money, the IP assets and used all of it to start an identical business that did exactly what I did.

As I live in Montreal, I was a bit confused as to how to pursue them legally. Should I go after them in a Quebec court and enforce the judgment in Florida? Or should I get jurisdiction and sue them in a Florida court?

After obtaining advice from a friend studying law, he told me that foreign country default judgments cannot be domesticated in Florida (or at least not without a huge ordeal). Is this correct? This wouldn't make sense if it was true. How come Florida allows foreign judgments (where both parties showed up to trial) to be domesticated, but not default judgments? If this was true, then any Florida resident who was getting sued in another state/country would simply never show up for trial because they would know that a foreign default judgment could never be domesticated!

So the question is: If they don't show up in Quebec court and a default judgment is issued, can that judgment be domesticated in Florida?

Can anyone offer some expert insight as to how I can best pursue an enforceable Quebec judgement against these scumbags?

I suggest you contact an attorney to discuss your situation. This forum is currently sponsored by Silverberg & Weiss, PA and you can find contact information on the banner advertisement above. Also, LawInfo’s Free Legal Resource Center has a variety of information which may be useful to you. You can find it here: www.resources.lawinfo.com.