Dominican Court Jurisdiction ?

Generally, Dominican courts have jurisdiction over any commercial litigation involving shareholders of a Dominican corporation.

As for criminal jurisdiction, it depends whether the crime was committed in the DR.

Did your lawyer invoke lack of jurisdiction when the company was sued outside of the DR?

Was the company properly served?

In any case, approval by a Dominican court will be required to enforce the foreign judgment in the Dominican Republic. This approval is called ?exequatur?. The proceeding takes place before a Court of First Instance (?Juzgado de Primera Instancia?).

Before granting exequatur, the Court will seek assurance that the foreign judgment has been entered after a normal procedure which permitted the defendant the opportunity to defend his interests, and that the judgment does not violate Dominican public policy.

The following are specific conditions that must be met:

1) The foreign court which rendered the decision had jurisdiction.
2) The foreign court followed normal procedures.
3) The foreign court applied the proper law according to Dominican conflict of laws rules.
4) The judgment does not violate Dominican or international public policy.

Most probably, yes. For a definite answer we would have to look at the documentation and get a detailed summary of the facts of the case. Please contact me.