Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Re: Suing an international student

Sure, but no money = no recovery or case value.

Re: Suing an international student

Being from another country does not immunize the student from a lawsuit. In practical terms, though, it may make suing him more trouble than it is worth.

If he has no money, then you would not be able to collect on your judgment your lawsuit would probably not have been worth pursuing. The same would be true of suing an American defendant who has no money.

Your question doesn't explain why you think you have a claim against this student. If the claim arose overseas then American courts probably would not have jurisdiction over your case. The lack of jurisdiction would arise more from the the site of the incident than from the citizenship of the defendant.

Re: Suing an international student

Of course you can sue an international student who has no money, but why would you want to?

Litigation is a very stressful and sometimes very expensive venture. Therefore, prior to filing a lawsuit, you generally want to make sure that first, is there liability? Next, does the defendant have assets, insurance coverage, etc. For instance, if an indigent person pushing his shopping cart with his belongings in it accidently hits you, causing you fall over and break your hip, is there liability? Of course, but then you must ask yourself, are there assets and/or insurance coverage. One would hope that this particular homeless person is one of those eccentric millionaire types who enjoy being homeless, but the reality is that he is probably worth the value of the shopping cart.

Anyway, I hope you get the picture. Good luck.