Isack v. IsackIsack v. Isack
Elaintiff appeals as of right an order granting summary disposition to defendant in this action to enforce a Canadian court order for payment of costs under the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act (UFMJRA),
The parties were married in 1988. In 1994, defendant sued plaintiff for divorce in Ontario, Canada, and the Canadian court issued a judgment of divorce in July 1998. The judgment awarded custody of the parties’ daughter to defendant and ordered plaintiff to pay $1,000
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a month in child support, in addition to other child-rearing expenses. Apparently, a continuing dispute over custody gave rise to a second case that plaintiff initiated against defendant, also in Canada. In that second case, the Canadian court issued an order against defendant in the nature of sanctions for failure to comply with discovery, and it ordered certain unidentified “pleadings”
A grant or denial of summary disposition is reviewed de novo on the basis of the entire record to determine if the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.
Maiden v Rozwood,
Plaintiff first argues that the trial court correctly determined that the order requiring defendant to pay $110,000 in fees and costs to plaintiff is a “foreign judgment” under the UFMJRA. We agree. The UFMJRA defines a “foreign judgment” as “any judgment of a foreign state granting or denying recovery of a sum of money, including a judgment for support in matrimonial or family matters, but not including a judgment for taxes, a fine or other penalty.”
The UFMJRA does not define whether “notice of the proceedings” refers to notice of the commencement of the case as a whole or to notice of the particular relevant action taken within the case. Moreover, there are no published cases in Michigan on point. Our review of the few relevant cases from outside Michigan
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supports defendant’s position that recognition of a judgment may be declined where the defendant was aware, or waived notice, of the litigation, but where the defendant
In Chabert v Bacquié, 694 So 2d 805 (Fla App, 1997), the plaintiff sued the defendant in the French equivalent of the circuit court. The defendant “was served with process, and the French trial court acquired personal jurisdiction over him.” He successfully defended the case, obtaining a judgment in his favor. Id. at 808. The plaintiff appealed the judgment in a French court of appeal, which reversed and entered a money judgment against the defendant. The plaintiff later filed suit in Florida for recognition of the French judgment. Id. at 809-810. The defendant opposed recognition in part under the equivalent of Michigan’s § 4(2) (a) exception on the ground that he had not received actual notice of the pendency of the appeal. The Florida court rejected that argument not because the pending appeal was not a proceeding of which the defendant had not received notice but because the defendant was responsible for the lack of notice — he had failed “to keep the French court apprised of his current residence address.” Id. at 815.
In Titan PRT Sys, Inc v Fabian, 6 Mass L Rptr 345 (Mass Super, 1997), the plaintiffs sued the defendant in New Jersey. The defendant was served with process but did not file an answer and the plaintiffs obtained a default judgment with respect to liability. The court then set a hearing to determine damages. The defendant was not given notice of the hearing, such notice not being required under New Jersey court rules at the time, and he did not appear. The court held the hearing and entered a money judgment for the plaintiffs. The Massachusetts court determined that there was a question of fact concerning whether recognition of the judgment should be declined because failure to provide notice of the damages hearing “could constitute a failure of ‘notice of the proceedings in sufficient time to defend’ ” under the applicable Massachusetts statute. Id. at 346.
In
Choi v Kim,
In Third Nat’l Bank of Nashville v Tagnani, 18 Pa D & C 4th 92 (Pa Com Pleas, 1993), the plaintiff sued the defendant in Tennessee. The defendant apparently was served with process because he filed an answer to the complaint. Certified letters sent to the defendant advising him of the trial date were returned unclaimed. The defendant did not appear for trial and the plaintiff obtained a judgment against him. Id. at 92-93. The Pennsylvania court declined to recognize the judgment on the ground that the defendant had not received proper notice of the trial date and thus was denied an opportunity to defend the action. Id. at 94-95.
In
Gondre v Silberstein,
In
Salisbury Plumbing & Heating Co v Carpenter,
131 Ill App 3d 829;
Although this implies that “notice” merely refers to the proceedings as a whole, the Illinois court deemed it significant that Salisbury had been participating in the Florida proceedings, had retained Florida counsel, and participated in Florida pretrial proceedings; but most significantly, Salisbury had only failed to receive notice of the Illinois order. The court explained that “the notice mentioned in the statute refers to the notice required by the foreign jurisdiction which rendered the judgment, not notice of a ruling by an Illinois appellate court on a motion.” Id. Although not explicitly stated, it is reasonably inferable from the opinion that the Florida trial date had been established before the stay was issued. Therefore, Salisbury had notice of the Florida proceedings that resulted in the “foreign” order that McGilvray sought to enforce. Therefore, it was notice of the trial date from the foreign court that was the determining factor; the court deemed it irrelevant that Salisbury was unaware that the stay was lifted until the day trial began. This supports defendant’s position that it is specific pending actions in the case of which the defendant must have notice. 3
Moreover, such a result is consistent with the plain language of the statute. In general, defendants are made aware of the pendency of
suits,
and courts acquire personal jurisdiction over those defendants,
In conclusion, because defendant did not have notice of the summary disposition motion in Canada that resulted in the issuance of the judgment against her, the trial court was permitted to decline to recognize it under
Affirmed.
Notes
Apparently, all sums of money referred to in this matter are computed in Canadian dollars, although this is not always clearly indicated in the pleadings.
Some courts inexplicably apply the UFMJRA to judgments rendered by sister states, despite the UFMJRA’s exclusive application to judgments issued by courts of foreign countries.
Plaintiff cites three other cases in support of his position:
Remington Investments, Inc v Obenauf,