In many small claims courts the foreign defendant can not be sued in the small claims court of another state...Connecticut included unless the defendant owns property in  Connecticut ...in which case the court would have In Rem Jurisdiction only rather than In Personam jurisdiction over the Defendant. If this is the case...satisfaction of the judgment would be limited to the property located within the state rather than all of the Defendant's assets.

The other alternative would be to file in the Superior Court, and rely on the State's long arm jurisdiction...always risky. In Connecticut entering the contract with a Defendant located in another state does not satisfy the statute, and a well drafted motion to dismiss will be granted to the Defendant for lack of jurisdiction over the person. In some states the minimum contacts principal also needs to be satisfied...Connecticut is one of them.

If the Defendant had physically entered the forum state to do business, he most likely would be subject to the long arm statute. Negotiating the contract over the phone from a foreign state does not satisfy the statute in Connecticut.

All of these problems are avoided by filing within the Defendant's native state.