INTERNATIONAL... CUSTODY
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Just what does actress Kelly Rutherford have in common with a California company mining gold in Alaska? Read on and see how George Washington’s caution about “foreign entanglements” applies to both.
Gold Rush, LLC, a California based prospecting and treasure hunting company, is being threatened with suit in New York for defaulting on a loan from Empire Bank. The loan was made to purchase the specialized gold mining equipment ordered from Walkabout Digs, an Australian Company that had the equipment manufactured in China by Ling Solutions, Ltd. The equipment was delivered directly to the waterfront land in Alaska were Gold Rush leases mineral rights. Walkabout has a standing relationship with Empire Bank and requires that all financing arrangements made by US companies for the purchase of its Chinese manufactured equipment be made through this New York bank. Gold Rush contracted with Golddiggers, Inc. to do the actual mining in Alaska.
Golddiggers’ workers say that the equipment doesn’t work. Walkabout and Ling say that Golddiggers’s workers were incompetent and do not know how to use the equipment. Walkabout’s friendly bank in New York says that it does not care. It just wants to be paid. Will there be lawsuits all over the world? Will the law of New York apply or the law of China or the law of California or Alaska’s law? How will a court’s order from one country be enforced in another? You just wanted the gold. Oh, what a mess.
"Actress Kelly Rutherford is learning all about the complications of disputes that involve multiple jurisdictions, domestic and foreign."
Ah, but this is nothing compared to other complicated and heartbreaking multi-jurisdictional disputes involving the children of disputing parents who are citizens and residents of different countries. When Irene from Seattle marries Philip from Paris or Henry from Philadelphia marries Olga from Saint Petersburg, bliss is followed by children and then, sometimes, children are followed by international marital warfare.
Actress Kelly Rutherford is learning all about the complications of disputes that involve multiple jurisdictions, domestic and foreign. More precious than gold are the objects of contention in her court cases in California and New York. The bi-coastal court fight has already bankrupted Rutherford and, now, courts in both American states disclaim jurisdiction over the children because they live primarily with their father in the little country of Monaco. A next round will have to be brought expensively in European courts.
"While her children are visiting under the joint custody order issued by a Pennsylvania judge, Olga refuses to return the children to Pennsylvania and seeks an order from a Russian court giving her sole custody."
Irene, who married Philip, appears in a French court waiving the order from an American court giving her custody of her children who were spirited out of the United States by their father. While her children are visiting under the joint custody order issued by a Pennsylvania judge, Olga refuses to return the children to Pennsylvania and seeks an order from a Russian court giving her sole custody. Is that order from the Pennsylvania judge going to fly in Russia? Oh, for a dispute over gold mining equipment!
It certainly is a smaller world in our modern times. Business deals and personal relationships bridge across continents and oceans from state to state and from nation to nation. But whether you are mining gold in Alaska with Chinese machinery purchased from an Australian company or forming families with Peggy Sue from Tennessee and Hans from Salzburg, you are subject to the tangles, contradictions and competitions from courts in different places with different laws and different loyalties.
So whether you are a California prospecting company seeking glittering fortune in the far north of Alaska or an American actress fighting for custody of her children in California, New York and Monaco, be advised that you may find yourself in a tangle of competing courts, thousands of miles apart, applying different laws, protecting different interests and ordering different solutions.
© 2015 Edmond McGill
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Facts, including the names of the companies, related to gold mining in Alaska are fiction and neither this part of the narrative nor the fictional companies should be confused with actual companies or their businesses.
This message and the information presented here do not create or evidence an attorney-client relationship nor are they intended to convey legal advice or counsel. You should not act upon this information without seeking advice from a qualified lawyer licensed in your own state or country who actually represents you. In this regard, you may contact The McGill Law Office and then representation and advice may be given if, and only if, attorney Edmond McGill agrees to do so in a written contract signed by him.