Affirmеd in part and certified in part by published opinion. Judge DIANA GRIBBON MOTZ wrote the opinion, in which Judge KING and Judge GREGORY joined.
OPINION
In this diversity action, Sidney Jaffe and his wife, Ruth Jaffe, Canadian citizens now living in Mexico, seek recognition of two default judgments — one in favor of Sidney Jaffe and one in favor of Ruth Jaffe. A Canadian court entered the default judgments against Accredited Surety & Casualty Co., Inc. (Accredited), a Florida corporation doing business in Virginia. The Canadian default judgments arise from the Jaffes’ contention that, after Sidney Jaffe jumped bail on Florida criminal charges, bail bondsmen employed by Accredited “kidnapped” him in Canada and illegally transported him to Florida for trial.
The district court refused to recognize the Canadian default judgments and granted summary judgment to Accredited. Because we must give full faith and credit to a Florida court’s previous judgment refusing to recognize Ruth Jaffe’s Canadian default judgment, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Accredited with respect to Ruth Jaffe’s default judgment. However, because Virginia law is unclear as to whether the claim for relief on which Sidney Jaffe’s default judgment is based “is repugnant to the public policy” of Virginia, or otherwise “need not be recognized” under Virginia’s Foreign Country Money-Judgments Recognition Act, Va.Code Ann. ■§ 8.01-465.6 et seq. (Michie 2000), we respectfully certify that question tó the Supreme Court of Virginia.
I.
On August 7, 1980, Sidney Jaffe was arrested in Florida and charged with 28 counts of violating the Florida Uniform Land Sales Practices Law, as codified at Fla. Stat. ch. 498.001 et seq. (1979).
See Jaffe v. State,
Jaffe was released on $137,500 bond, which Accredited posted on Jaffe’s behalf. Jaffe signed a bond agreement with Accredited .providing that Accredited had the right to “apprehend, arrest and surrender” Jaffe in the event Jaffe left the Florida jurisdiction “without the written consent of the court and [Accredited]” or if Jaffe moved from his then-current residence without notifying Accredited.
Once free on bail, Jaffe fled with family members to Toronto, Canada, without notifying or obtaining the permission of the court or Accredited. Jaffe subsequently failed to appear for trial in Florida, scheduled for May 18, 1981. At that time, Jaffe’s counsel presented evidence to the Florida court that Jaffe’s failure to appear was attributable to a basketball injury *588 Jaffe had suffered in Canada. The Florida court added a failure to appear charge to the original charges against Jaffe and issued a warrant for Jaffe’s arrest. The Florida court also estreated, or took away, Jaffе’s bond based on his failure to appear. Accredited sought to have the estreature set aside, reiterating the representation by Jaffe’s counsel that Jaffe’s failure to appear was due to a basketball injury. On September 18, 1981, the court agreed to set aside the estreature on the condition that Accredited produce Jaffe within ninety days.
Later that month, two Accredited bondsmen, posing as police officers, located and apprehended Jaffe at his condominium building in Toronto, Canada, as he returned from jogging. The bondsmen then took Jaffe by car across the international border to Niagara Falls, New York, and returned with him by airplane to Florida. Jaffe stood trial and, on Octоber 23, 1981, was convicted on all 28 Land Sales Practices counts and one count of failing to appear.
See Jaffe v. State,
A number of legal developments occurred over the course of the next two years, during which Jaffe served sentences on the above convictions. First, in April 1982, in the civil action related to the quitclaim deeds the Florida state court entered judgment against Jaffe’s corporations in the amount of $3 million, which was affirmed on appeal. Then, in July 1983, Jaffe was charged with eight counts of criminal “organized fraud,” again related to the allegedly fraudulent land deals.
See Jaffe v. Sanders,
Florida authorities filed more criminal charges against Jaffe in March 1984, while Jaffe continued to reside in Canada. This time, Jaffe was charged with four counts of perjury stemming from answers to interrogatories in both the state civil action and in a subsequent federal civil action brought by Jaffe relating to the allegedly fraudulent land deals. 1
In the meantime, Canadian officials “took a very jaundiced view” of the bondsmen’s arrest of Jaffe, who had since become a Canadian, citizen, in Canada, without notice or surrender to Canadian officials.
See Kear v. Hilton,
*589 On September 20, 1985, after a Canadian court had convicted the bondsmen, the Jaffes filed a civil suit in the Ontario Court of Justice against Accredited and its president, Hank M. Snow. 2 The Jaffes alleged that the bondsmen kidnapped Sidney Jaffe in violation of Canadian law, “struck [Jaffe] on the head, threatened him with further physical harm, handcuffed him, and threatened to kill members of his family in order to prevent his escaping.” In the same action, the Jaffes also sued a host of other persons whom they alleged caused or conspired in the “wrongful abduction” or “wrongful imprisonment,” including various Florida state attorneys, local government and county officials in Putnam County, and the attorneys who litigated the civil suit against Jaffe’s corporations.
Accredited and Snow entered special appearances and filed a motion to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and forum non conveniens; the Canadian court dismissed that motion. See Jaffe v. Miller, [1989] 76 O.A.C. 15. Accredited and Snow elected not to defend further against the action. On November 22,1990, the Canadian court entered two default judgments against Accredited — one in favor of Sidney Jaffe for $617,434.17 in Canadian dollars, plus $290,140.94 in U.S. dollars, plus interest, and a second and separate default judgment in favor of Ruth Jaffe for $115,293.56 in Canadian dollars, plus $903,481.47 in U.S. dollars, plus interest. 3
On January 15, 1991, Ruth Jaffe filed an action in Florida state court seeking recognition of her Canadian default judgment. The Florida court refused recognition, reasoning that to do so would contravene Florida public policy because Florida law “favors and sanctions the apprehension of a bond jumper” by a surety, like Accredited, and because Jaffe’s criminal act in failing to appear, constituted the direct cause of the bondsmen’s actions.
Jaffe v. Snow,
No. CI 91-1593, at 8-9 (Fla.Cir.Ct. July 26, 1991) (order granting summary judgment). The court concluded that Ruth Jaffe was not entitled to recognition of her Canadian default judgment because “the claim upon which it was based was intertwined with, solely derivative of and utterly dependent upon that of her husband.”
Id.
For these reasons, the Florida trial court granted summary judgment to Accredited; the Florida appellate court affirmed.
Jaffe v. Snow,
In 1994, a Canadian court, after a full trial, issued a comprehensive, 93-page decision resolving the Jaffes’ claims as to the remaining defendants in the Jaffes’ Canadian action.' The same court that previously had entered the default judgments in favor of the Jaffes (speaking through a different judge) dismissed each of the Jaffes’ claims and entered judgment in favor of one defendant on his counterclaim against the Jaffes. The Canadian court spared little scorn in detailing the Jaffes’ lack of credibility and the minimal foundation suрporting their claims. 4 As to the *590 earlier default judgments entered against Accredited and Snow, the court declared that “[i]t strikes me as being wrong that Jaffe now has or should obtain a judgment against Accredited” based on his allegations of “kidnapping.” The court further stated:
I have no doubt that [the other judge of this court] granted judgment in favor of both Jaffe and Mrs. Jaffe on the basis of misstatements or misrepresentations knowingly made to him ... and allowed] a recovery of money to which neither of them are entitled. I have a serious concern about this matter and question whether the judgments [in favor of the Jaffes] should now be enforced. I think the matter of their validity should be the subject of further consideration on another occasion.
On November 16, 2000, the Jaffes nonetheless filed this enforcement action against Accredited in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, after having withdrawn a similar action from a Virginia state court in 1996. The Jaffes sought enforcement of both Canadian default judgments pursuant to the Foreign Country Money-Judgments Recognition Act, Va.Code Ann. § 8.01-465.6 et seq.
The district court granted summary judgment to Accredited. The district court reasoned that the Florida court’s refusal to recognize the Canadian default judgment barred Ruth Jaffe’s claim for recognition of the same default judgment. The court held that Sidney Jaffe could not succeed on his claim for recognition of his Canadian default judgment because to permit this would be repugnant to Virginia рublic policy and therefore was barred by Va.Code Ann. § 8.01-465.10. The district court explained that “[s]uch recovery would be against public policy because it would permit Sidney Jaffe to benefit from his wrong doing,” i.e., his bail-jumping, and allow a “fugitive” to “utilizfe] the American justice system to his benefit.”
Both Jaffes appeal. We review the district court’s grant of summary judgment
de novo. Guinness PLC v. Ward,
U.
The full faith and credit statute, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738 (West 1994), governs our disposition of Ruth Jaffe’s claim. That statute requires that federal courts afford state court judgments “full faith and credit.” Id. (providing that state judicial proceedings “shall have the same full faith and credit in every court within the United States ... as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State ... from which they are taken”).
To determine whether the full faith and credit statute applies in a particular case, a court engages in a two-step inquiry.
Meindl v. Genesys Pac. Techs., Inc. (In re Genesys Data Techs., Inc.),
A.
We therefore must first determine whether, under Florida preclusion law, the Florida court’s judgment refusing to recognize Ruth Jaffe’s Canadian default judgment bars her claim for recognition of that judgment in the present suit. Florida law provides that “several conditions must occur simultaneously if a matter is to be made res judicata: [1] identity of the thing sued for; [2] identity of the cause of action; [3] identity of parties; [4] identity of the quality in the person for or against whom the claim is made.”
Albrecht v. State,
Ruth Jaffe does not (and indeed cannot) maintain that the first four prongs of Florida’s res judicata test have not been met. What Ruth Jaffe claims is that the Florida judgment would not be entitled to res judi-cata under Florida law because it is not “an adjudication on the merits.” Id. She asserts that the Florida public policy which provided the rationale for the Florida judgment — refusal to enforce a judgment based on Sidney Jaffe’s criminal failure to appear in court — is inconsistent with Virginia public policy. For this reason, she argues, a federal court in Virginia, sitting in diversity, should hold that the Florida court’s grant of summary judgment to Accredited was not “on the merits.” Even assuming that Virginia public policy does not accord with Florida public policy (which is not at all clear, see infra part III), this contention is meritless.
Ruth Jaffe’s reliance on this argument seems to arise from her confusion as to what is at issue in her case. With respect to her claim, we must determine the enforceability of the prior Florida judgment refusing to enforce her Canadian default judgment, not the enforceability of the Canadian default judgment itself. Neither the full faith and credit statute, nor the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution, applies to judgments issued from foreign countries.
See Miller v. Miller,
For this reason, a state can refuse, as Florida did, to recognize a
foreign
judgment on the ground that it conflicts with the public policy of that state.
Id.
at 163,
*592
But neither a state nor a federal court can refuse to give full faith and credit to the judgment of a state court because of disagreement with the public policy basis for that decision. Indeed, the Supreme Court recently addressed this precise question and reiterated that its “decisions support no roving ‘public policy exception’ to the full faith and credit due [state court] judgments.”
Baker,
Ruth Jaffe simply ignores this precedent and argues that because the Florida judgment is based on Florida public policy, it, like some Rule 41(b) dismissals on limitations grounds,
see Semtek Int'l Inc. v. Lockheed Martin Corp.,
Accordingly, we must conclude that Florida law would afford the Florida court’s grant of summary judgment to Accredited preclusive effect in any subsequent identical action, like the one at hand, brought by Ruth Jaffe.
B.
We now proceed to the second step of our inquiry in resolving whether the full faith and credit statute, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1738, applies here — examination of whether Congress has created a statutory exception to § 1738 that permits relitigation of Ruth Jaffe’s claim. A court will recognize an exception to § 1738 only if “a later [federal] statute contains an express or implied partial repeal” of § 1738; an implied repeal requires an “irreconcilable conflict” between the two federal statutes.
Kremer v. Chem. Constr. Corp.,
Ruth Jaffe has identified no statute that explicitly or implicitly repeals § 1738 and so “the second step of our analysis can be easily resolved.”
See Meindl v. Genesys Pac. Techs., Inc. (In re
Genesys),
III.
Sidney Jaffe’s claim seeking enforcement of his Canadian default judgment presents a more difficult question. Sidney Jaffe too seeks recognition and enforcement of his Canadian default judgment pursuant to Virginia’s Foreign Country Money-Judgments Recognition Act (the “Act”), Va.Code Ann. § 8.01^165.6 et seq. (Michie 2000). The Act, which parallels in relevant part the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act, provides that a “foreign country money judgment is enforceable in the same manner as the judgment of a sister state which is entitled to full faith and credit.” Id. § 8.01-465.9. 5
As a condition to enforcement, however, a court must first establish that the foreign country money judgment should be recognized.
See Guinness PLC v. Ward,
In relevant part, the Act provides that a “foreign country money judgment need not be recognized if ... [t]he claim for relief on which the judgment is based is repugnant to the public policy of this Commonwealth.” Va.Code Ann. § 8.01-465.10(B)(3). We have found no cases from Virginia courts applying the Aсt’s public policy exception. We nonetheless look to Virginia case law to determine if we can discern whether a Virginia court would hold that the basis for Jaffe’s Canadian judgment is repugnant to an important public policy manifested in Virginia law.
Accredited principally contends 6 that, as the district court held, recognition of Sidney Jaffe’s Canadian default judgment “would be repugnant to Virginia public policy” for two interrelated reasons. To recognize Sidney Jaffe’s de *594 fault judgment would, Accredited maintains, be contrary to Virginia public policy because it would (1) permit a wrongdoer to benefit from his own wrongs and (2) allow a fugitive from justice to call upon the resources of the courts while simultaneously evading their process.
A.
The Supreme Cоurt of Virginia has consistently refused to allow a party “to profit from its own wrongdoing.”
Chosar Corp. v. Owens,
‘When [this principle is] applied to actions in tort ... consent or participation in an immoral or unlawful act by plaintiff precludes recovery for injuries sustained as a result of that act.”
Miller v. Bennett,
Applying this rule, the Supreme Court of Virginia has denied relief when “[t]he very illegal act to which the plaintiff consented and in which she participated produced the injuries and damages of which she complains.”
Zysk,
On the other hand, Virginia’s highest court has held that this principle does not bar recovery if the plaintiffs unlawful act is not the
direct
cause of his injuries.
Godbolt v. Brawley,
We cannot determine from these precedents whether the Virginia courts would permit Jaffe to recover against Accredited for “wrongful abduction” when Jaffe’s own illegal act — jump *595 ing bail — led to Accredited’s actions in apprehending him. Under Virginia law, Jaffe’s instigating act of jumping bah constitutes a felony, see Va.Code Ann. § 19.2-128 (Michie 2000), and, therefore, an illegal and wrongful act. 7 Furthermore, like the plaintiffs in Zysk and Miller, Jaffe expressly manifested his consent to the very conduct undertaken by the defendants that caused injury. Jaffe did this by consenting, in the bond agreement, to Accredited’s right to “apprehend, arrest and surrender” him if he left Florida without Accredited’s permission or moved from his residence without notifying Accredited. 8 Nonetheless, a Virginia court might conclude that Jaffe’s act of jumping bail and fleeing to Canada was not a sufficiently direct cause of his alleged injuries, as required by the Godbolt rule, to apply the principle that a party cannot profit from his own wrongdoing.
B.
Similarly, we cannot determine whether Virginia courts would preclude Jaffe’s underlying claim as contrary to public policy based on the fugitive from justice doctrine. Pursuant to that doctrine, also known as the fugitive disentitlement doctrine, a court may “dismiss an aрpeal or writ of certiorari if the party seeking relief is a fugitive while the matter is pending.”
Degen v. United States,
Federal courts have adopted the doctrine,
see, e.g., Goya Foods, Inc. v. Unanue-Casal,
*596
No Virginia statute or rule codifies the doctrine, and we have found no decisions in which a Virginia court has adopted it. Nevertheless', the considerations justifying the doctrine reflect substantial public policy interests Virginia likely shares with other jurisdictions that have applied the doctrine. These include (1) a party’s fugitive status can render a judgment “impossible to enforce”; (2) thе inequity of allowing a fugitive to “call upon the resources of the Court for determination of his claims,” and (3) the need to “discourage[ ] the felony of escape and encourage[ ] voluntary surrenders.”
Degen,
Relying on these justifications, both federal and state courts have applied the fugitive from justice doctrine not only in criminal cases but in “a variety of civil cases and proceedings.”
Empire Blue Cross & Blue Shield v. Finkelstein,
Although the fugitive from justice doctrine dates back more than one hundred years, the Supreme Court recently limited its application in the federal courts. In 1993, the
Ortega-Rodriguez
Court rejected the Eleventh Circuit’s automatic rule mandating dismissal of fugitives’ appeals and held that “some connection between a defendant’s fugitive status and his appeal” must exist for the doctrine to apply.
Ortega-Rodriguez,
Since
Degen,
both federal and state courts have continued to apply the doctrine in a civil setting.
See, e.g., Goya Foods,
Jaffe maintains that even if Virginia follows the fugitive from justice doctrine, Virginia courts could not apply the doctrine in this case because, inter alia, an insufficient nexus exists to invoke the doctrine. Jaffe’s status as a fugitive stems from charges that he committed criminal fraud through answers to interrogatories in two civil lawsuits, while his current enforcement action relates to the allegedly illegal acts of the bondsmen who kidnapped him in Canada after he jumped bond in an attempt to avoid criminal prosecution on charges that were related to, but preceded, the criminal fraud charges. In the absence of any Virginia statute, rule, or case stating or discussing the fugitive from justice doctrine, we cannot determine if a Virginia court would adopt the doctrine and, if so, whether a Virginia court would hold that under Virginia law the doctrine would apply to bar a claim like that which forms the basis of Jaffe’s default judgment.
C.
Finаlly, even if we could conclude that Virginia law would not permit the claim for relief on which Jaffe’s Canadian default judgment was based, under either the principle that a party cannot profit from his own wrongdoing or the fugitive from justice doctrine, we cannot determine whether a Virginia court would conclude that the conflict between Virginia public policy and the Canadian default judgment rises to a level that warrants non-recognition of the default judgment.
See, e.g., Ackermann v. Levine,
D.
Given these several uncertainties, we will not substitute our judgment for the judgment of the Supreme Court of Virginia and, therefore, respectfully certify to that court, pursuant to its discretionary authority under Rule 5:42 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the following question:
Is the claim for relief that forms the basis for the Canadian default judgment in favor of Sidney Jaffe and against Accredited repugnant to the public policy of Virginia, such that the judgment *598 need not be recognized pursuant to the Foreign Country Money-Judgments Recognition Act, Va.Code Ann. § 8.01-465.6 et seq.?
See Va. S.Ct. R. 5:42(a).
In certifying this question, we note that although our discussion of the possible grounds for non-recognition of Jaffе’s Canadian default .judgment has focused on the principle that one cannot profit from his own wrongdoing and on the fugitive from justice doctrine, we do not intend to foreclose the Supreme Court of Virginia from considering any other grounds for non-recognition that it believes the facts of this case present.
Should the Supreme Court of Virginia accept certification on the above question and answer in the affirmative, Jaffe’s Canadian default judgment need not be recognized and, consequently, Jaffe is not entitled to enforce it. In the event the Supreme Court of Virginia court answers in the negative, we cannot refuse recognition of Jaffe’s judgment based on the public policy exception of Vа.Code Ann. § 8.01-465.10(B)(3).
IV.
For the above reasons, we hold that the full faith and credit statute bars Ruth Jaffe’s claim for recognition of her Canadian default judgment. We therefore affirm summary judgment in favor of Accredited on Ruth Jaffe’s claim. However, we certify to the Supreme Court of Virginia the question of whether the basis for Sidney Jaffe’s Canadian default judgment is repugnant to Virginia public policy, rendering it unenforceable ' under § 8.01-465.10(B)(3). The accompanying certification order shall first be released to counsel, who shall have 15 days to submit suggested changes to the Statement of Facts. We reserve the right to modify this opinion in light of the comments received. The judgment of the district court granting summary judgment to Accredited therefore is
AFFIRMED IN PART AND CERTIFIED IN PART TO THE SUPREME COURT OF VIRGINIA.
Notes
. An arrest warrаnt for Jaffe on these perjury charges remains outstanding, although the organized fraud charges brought in 1983 apparently were dropped sometime in 1996 or 1997.
. In 1982 and 1984 the Jaffes had filed civil actions in the United States based on allegations that the Accredited bondsmen had illegally kidnapped and mistreated Jaffe. The Jaffes voluntarily dismissed the first action and did not prosecute the second.
. These values are expressly set forth in the Canadian judgment. Nonetheless, the Jaffes claim that the Canadian court awarded Sidney Jaffe "413,806.47 U.S. Dollars and $822,956.45 Canadian Dollars,” plus post-judgment interest, and awarded Ruth Jaffe "$1,401,570.80 U.S. Dollars and $177,752.30 Canadian Dollars,” plus post-judgment interest.
. For example, the court stated that "I can say without any hesitation that in all my years on the Bench, I have not seen or experienced a more untrustworthy witness or litigant [than Jaffe].... There is absolutely no justifi- ' cation whatsoever- for this' action, let alone this [ten-week] trial, having taken place.”
. Jaffe’s Canadian default judgment against Accredited seems at present to be enforceable in Canada notwithstanding the doubts expressed by the Canadian court in resolving the Jaffes' claims against the other defendants. See supra at 590. We note that the Act requires that a judgment be "final and conclusive and enforceable where rendered,” even though "an appeal therefrom is pending or [the judgment] is subject to appeal.” Va. Code Ann. § 8.01-465.8.
. Accredited also briefly argues that the Florida judgment denying Ruth Jaffe's claim for recognition of her Canadian default judgment constitutes "res judicata" barring Sidney Jaffe's claim for recognition of his default judgment. This argument fails. Although under Florida law a judgment against an injured party bars any future derivative claims by a spouse,
see, e.g., Gates v. Foley,
. Jaffe contends that the district court should have applied judicial estoppel to bar Accredited from asserting that he jumped bail because Accredited, relying on a statement by Jaffe's own counsel, had represented to the Florida court that Jaffe's failure to appear in court was due to a basketball injury. The hypocrisy of this argument is breathtaking. In essence, Jaffe seeks to punish Accredited for innocently repeating Jaffe’s own lie. Judicial estoppel does not apply when a party's assertedly inconsistent positions stem from reliance on statements made to the court by an opponent, which later prove untrue.
See, e.g., Lowery
v.
Stovall,
. That a Canadian court convicted the Accredited bondsmen of criminal kidnapping leads to no contrary conclusion. A wrongdoer who participates or consents to the wrongdoing is not entitled to recover against an alleged tortfeasor even if the alleged tort-feasor could be subject to criminal prosecution for the same act. As the Supreme Court of Virginia has explained, "when the consenting participant seeks monetary reward for harm resulting from the unlawful conduct, the public interest [invaded by the crime] is protected sufficiently by criminal sanctions and does not require that the participant receive compensation.”
Zysk,
. In fact, some courts have stated that the doctrine should apply “with greater force in civil cases where an individual’s liberty is not at stake.”
Conforte v. C.I.R.,