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How can I sue someone on Elance who lives in India? What are my options?
Anonymous3 views2 answers
I hired a web developer through Elance and he lives in India. I believe the jurisdiction for Elance work is California, USA. I believe in order to sue someone you need to serve them, but it's hard to do this given his location. Do the same rules apply if he lives outside the country and what happens if he does not appear? I am wondering if it is realistic to sue him and what I can sue for? Would I be able to sue Elance for allowing this kind of behavior (I had a similar experience with another) and utilizing a faulty rating system that allows bad reviews to be concealed? I would settle for some kind of ban with Elance (for the freelancer).
Even if you were able to obtain a monetary judgment against this freelancer, if he is located outside the U.S. you are not likely to ever collect on that judgment. So there is very little to gain by suing the freelancer.
And as for suing elance, likely would be tough, as I strongly suspect the terms of service (TOS) agreement you agreed to with them and the contract you entered into with the freelancer both likely insulate elance in various ways, e.g., you may have agreed to arbitration. But if you are serious contact some business litigators and have them review your facts and documents with elance for a consultation.
Mr. Kelly is correct that enforcing a judgment against a party in India is nigh impossible. You can also try the Elance dispute resolution process via the link below. Not a great solution, but Elance might throw the offending party off the site once it sees all the complaints. You can, of course, also ding him in the reviews.
