The Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act
The United States Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Act is legislation designed to provide a legal framework for individual states that enact the law in making judicial decisions in cases that involve financial judgments brought by other states or countries outside the United States. Uniform acts in the United states are legislation that individual states adopt to simplify interpretation of a topic of law across state lines when litigation may involve parties in multiple states. Uniform act laws are only binding on those states that adopt them. The National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws is responsible for authorizing Uniform Acts in the United States.
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Applicability
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If you reside in a state that adopted the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Act and you are the subject of a court ruling made in another state or a country outside the United States, the financial order made in the out-of-state court applies in the state where you currently reside. However, if you can demonstrate to the court in the state where you are resident that you are appealing, or intend to appeal, against the judgment made against you in the out-of-state court, the courts in the state where you reside have the power to order that the out-of-state judgment cannot be enforced against you, pending the appeal.
Jurisdiction
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Before a court in a U.S. state can recognize a foreign money-judgment, it must be satisfied that the foreign judgment is conclusive. The court can refuse to recognize a foreign money-judgment under certain circumstances listed in Section 4 of the act, which render the judgment inconclusive. If a foreign court makes a judgment, but the legal system in that state or country is not impartial, or does not provide a fair legal process, the court hearing the case to enforce the foreign money-judgment may refuse to recognize that judgment. The foreign court must have the right to bring judgments against the defendant as well. The foreign court must also have the right to hear cases concerning the subject matter involved in the case.
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Grounds for Rejection
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Section 4 of the act lists further grounds that a court in a state that adopted the uniform act can use in refusing to recognize a foreign money-judgment. If you can show that the original judgment relied on fraud, or that the original court system did not give you enough time to prepare your defense before hearing the case and making its judgment, the courts in your state do not have to recognize the foreign judgment. The court in your state does not have to recognize a judgment that conflicts with another conclusive judgment, and the act allows courts to refuse recognition where a judgment is made based on a claim that would not be a reasonable or fair claim in your state. For example, if your state respects your right to retain a family home that you own jointly with your spouse, when a claim for a money-judgment is made against your spouse, the court in your home state may reject a judgment made that orders you both to sell your family home to comply with that judgment.
Grounds For Enforcement
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If the grounds for rejecting a foreign money-judgment as listed in Section 4 of the act are not met, the courts in your home state may not reject the foreign judgment if the claim and judgment against you were served on you personally in the foreign state. The foreign judgment cannot be rejected if you appeared in the foreign court to hear your case voluntarily, or if, before the original proceedings against you began, you agreed to abide by any judgment that the foreign court made. The courts in your state must abide by the foreign judgment if you were living in the foreign state, or had a business located in that state and the case against you involved your business dealings.
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