Oita woman loses lawsuit and pays damages without ever knowing she’d been sued

Japanese law at it's best, yet again.

That is indeed diabolical, but the guy is obviously smart to game the system like that. He could have applied his wits to make a better honest living instead.

What a idiot. It would have never work anyway. Anyone would have found out if their account suddenly got emptied and seized. Is like he is asking for get counter sued. There was nothing smart about how he did it. Unless he intend to make a run for it after getting the money

The biggest thing here that has been and is troublesome to say the least, is the lack of communication between the courts!

Wow. Hopefully the Yaks don’t learn how to do this.

This method of serving subpoenas seems dishonest in itself. When I was a bicycle messenger I used to find creative says of serving them. They always had to get into either the defendant’s or their attorneys hands. Most of the time they were expecting them, so no problems. Other times...weee.

All that for a measly 300,000 yen? Which now cost him 1.7 million yen? No, not smart at all.

One more reason NOT to keep over a 100,000 Yen in one bank account.

Japanese law at it's best, yet again.

It's not a uniquely Japanese problem. In western countries someone prepared to lie could just as easily swear a false affidavit of service while never serving anything.

Well if he says she lives there, she must! He said the lights were on at night. Why would he lie? Besides, we have no means to verify if his claims are true, so let's just take his word for it.

Mark, I am not sure how could you do that. Once you get the salary in your account, you spread it in let's say 10 small accounts? Then how do you pay the rent, combine money from two accounts? Kid's school? International flights? It gets quite complicated.

So no, just the fact there are swindlers out there, it doesn't make a solid reason not to keep a reasonable sum of money in your account. And if you manage a business (like the woman in the story does), you do need much more cash flow than 100 k

Now imagine if instead of a businesswoman this would have happened to an older person incapable of filing a lawsuit or a foreigner who's not fluent in Japanese.

"Agreed. In other, developed countries, you cannot take a default judgement without first sending notification to the defendant."

That's not entirely correct, as the notification was sent.

All the defendant could do is apply to set aside the default judgment.

Every LPC student does this as an examinable subject.

the court ruled in her favor and awarded her 1.78 million yen

I wonder if he paid or will pay her. He's probably gone through her 300,000 yen.

The legal system in Japan is so ....last century!

The legal system in Japan is so ....last century!

How exactly would the legal system in your own country have prevented this?

In any Anglo country, the process would be this: The fraudster decides to sue you, they list a false address in the claim form, they lie in a sworn affidavit claiming to have personally served you at this fake address, the court accepts the affidavit, the trial proceeds without you and a default judgement is entered, a notice of the judgement might be mailed to the fake address provided in the filings, the fraudster enforces the judgement by seizing the money in your account. The end result is the same.

Anyone would have found out if their account suddenly got emptied and seized.

You might be surprised how many people wouldn't countersue to avoid the hassle and publicity, and how many are sitting on mountains of cash and never showing it.

Japanese law at it's best, yet again.

These cons exist in every country, I have seen them, the difference is the same numbers but it usually has a dollar sign and not yen.

Often it goes like this file the lawsuit give the address of an accomplice that then accepts the court papers then vacates the temporary location, the rest goes pretty much as the above.

Having a business my lawyer here in Japan warned me long ago of such things, but usually the con artist goes and changes the victim's residency registration (which oddly is far to easy in some places) then the con goes like the above.

This is why despite it being a pain in the .... I regularly go to the city office to check our family member's residency registration.

This is the first time I have heard something like this and it is strange the courts took the man's word over the actual registered address.

I think the woman could have a case against the court clerk office as they are supposed to at least send to the actual registered address and not just accept the word of the plaintiff.

This man should be prosecuted for fraud. His actions were criminal.

 In western countries someone prepared to lie could just as easily swear a false affidavit of service while never serving anything.

actually wrong, affidavits need proof in court, in my country , you need to show proof the person being sued has been served court papers, by a third person, normally a delivery company, many times with video evidence, if none then that deliver person or company would have to swear under oath in court, if required, that they lawfully served those documents correctly.

In western countries someone prepared to lie could just as easily swear a false affidavit of service while never serving anything.

I recall a case where someone filled in an affidavit saying he has served Mr X at a certain address. In fact he had not served anyone at all (the nickname for it was Sewer Service..ie you throw the documents in the garbage or down a sewer).

Judge found out..and he was sentenced to a year in jail . Courts come down very hard on people swearing false advidavits.

Good luck collecting. Just because you win a verdict doesn't mean the bank account will have enough money to cover it.

A rather large portion of Japan's homeless population is people trying avoiding debts. Usually working day labor jobs. When you stay at shelters or other housing that's part of the social safety net your location is registered and the collectors can find you

@wtfjapan

in my country , you need to show proof the person being sued has been served court papers, by a third person, normally a delivery company, many times with video evidence, if none then that deliver person or company would have to swear under oath in court, if required, that they lawfully served those documents correctly.

The problem with third party service in the US is that it's not a safeguard against a determined fraudster. Nothing prevents the fraudster from impersonating a third party when they sign the affidavit. Every state is different so I can't say you're wrong, but normally you don't need to include video/photo evidence or have the process server testify unless the validity of service is actually being challenged.

Below is the proof of service affidavit in California, as an example. You only attach a copy of the documents you've served. You don't need to sign it in front of a notary or anyone who could verify your identity.

https://www.courts.ca.gov/documents/pos040.pdf

@Nippori Nick

Yes, 'sewer service' is a problem everywhere. Usually it's unscrupulous debt collection agencies who don't want to waste time and money tracking down debtors, let alone face them in court. The courts do come down hard on these people when they're caught. For better or worse every system assumes people are being somewhat honest. If it didn't, the system would become even slower and inefficient.

@M3M3M3

In western countries ...

The problem with third party service in the US

Damn ! Why does US has to represent all western countries ?

Stop ! In a way, US has a decentralized archaic system ... you cross a state limit, different laws ...

Do your US vs Japan law, don't involve half of the world.

This same thing in principle does indeed happen in the United States. Plantiff files a claim using a false address for the Defendant. The hired Process Server simply files an affidavit saying that he/she delivered the papers to a "person" at a given address. Yes, that's all that's required. That results in a Default Judgement against a Defendant who may not even know they have been sued. Once a Default Judgement is in hand, the Plaintiff can proceed to go after the assets, including bank accounts. Although SSA payments are exempted. Plaintiff may also have Informatiom Subpoenas issued to locate further assets. So a Bank Account can certainly be seized without the Defendant knowing anything about what's going on. It's an underhanded technique often used by shady "collection agencies". They don't want you to know and possibly answer their claim.

So contrary to opinions posted here, no...it's not only in Japan. And the Defendant in a Default Judgement against them does not need to be notified. In some cases they can't be notified.

Are these not crimes in Japan?

(1) filing a false paper with the court; and then

(2) lying to the court when questioned about it.

Doing this with the intent to perpetrate a fraudulent suit would either be a third crime or an aggravating factor for the first two offenses.

When I lived In Britain, it was very easy to sue companies for small amounts. Every company on its letterhead had to state the registered address of its head office. You went to the local county court filled out forms and served them by registered mail at the registered address. They had 14 days or maybe it was a week to respond. If they were didn't respond, the lost the case and you could send in the bailiffs. I did it to very late payers many times. None ever responded. The problem was some seemed to have no assets at all.

I wonder how this applies in Japan to, for example, the case of tree falling down and causing damage. Would a claim be sent to the registered address of the owner be accepted by the courts even if the owner had moved and no one knew where he had moved to?

claiming she owed him 680,000 yen

It would be helpful if the article provided some info of whether she did or didn't actually owe him the money. I don't want to defend the guy's actions, but I know someone who had a genuine grievance against a restaurant owner, and won a legal case against him. But when it came time to settle up, the owner had declared bankruptcy and the claimant got no money. If you were suspicious of not getting the money through normal channels, might you not look at alternative routes?

If you were suspicious of not getting the money through normal channels, might you not look at alternative routes?

Legal ones. There's a big problem with illegal routes. See this article for an example.

I'm sure 'The Nigerian' prince/banker and the uncountable legion of dishonest, conscienceless, debt chasing U.S. lawyers have been doing this for years. Even sadder here is if this guy had a valid tort but went the deceptive way to avoid this woman's personality. Well, with the thought that nothing is ALL bad, at least this guy might show some creative talent for writing crime drama...

So, who is going to get punished for allowing this apart from the criminal?