By Attorney Lei Jiang, Lei Jiang LLC.
Read the contract first — it usually decides the question for you. Most international supply contracts contain an arbitration clause or a forum-selection clause, and U.S. courts enforce those clauses. If your contract says disputes go to arbitration in Shanghai or Singapore, a lawsuit in Ohio will likely be stopped before it starts.
That is not necessarily bad news. Under the Federal Arbitration Act, arbitration agreements are valid and enforceable, and the United States is a party to the New York Convention — an arbitration award can be enforced in more than 150 countries, including China. A court judgment, by contrast, is often much harder to enforce across a border. An award must be confirmed in court within three years, and the court must confirm it unless one of the Convention’s narrow grounds for refusal applies.
The clause also decides the practical questions: which law governs, which language the case runs in, and where the hearings happen. Before you sign the next contract, that clause deserves the same attention as price and delivery terms — because it decides where and how you fight if the deal breaks down.
If there is no arbitration clause, an Ohio court can hear the case only if it has jurisdiction over the foreign supplier — usually because the supplier did business in Ohio or shipped goods here. And even a win in Ohio may need to be enforced where the supplier’s assets sit.
The clause decides: before you sign, choose the forum, the law, and the arbitration seat deliberately — after a dispute arises, those choices are already made.
Questions? Contact us at info@leijianglaw.com or (440) 835-2271, or book a free 15-minute call: https://calendly.com/leijianglaw-info/15-minute-consultation
This article is for general information only and is not legal advice.