business consultant and venture capitalist focused on business and
financial management, including establishing operations, markets and
revenues in the U.S. for non-U.S. based businesses, for over 15 years.
Since joining Kohner, Mann & Kailas, S.C., he has worked closely
with the dedicated business litigation and commercial debt recovery
practices and provides strategic support to businesses involved in
international transactions and dispute resolution.
Barnabas Business Center
Washington Building
4650 N. Port Washington Rd.
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53212-1059
414.962.5110 Phone
414.962.8725 Fax
staylor@kmksc.com
www.kmksc.com
of a foreign-country judgment into
realized receipts requires several
strategic decisions as a direct result
of the distinctive characteristics of
the U.S. legal structure. The speed,
cost and amount of recovery can be
heavily dependent upon making correct
strategic choices. Critically, the optimal
time for these decisions is as early as
possible. The strategy for enforcement
is best addressed before attempting
domestication. In some circumstances,
it may be better to instigate proceedings
in the U.S., without recourse to domestic
courts, if assets are located in the U.S.
Such advance analysis is typically
relatively inexpensive and can save
time, money, and frustration, as well as
significantly improving the chances, and
the completeness, of recovery.
unparalleled mobility of people and
assets encompassing over 50 legal
systems. Since, in contrast to arbitration,
the U.S. has not entered into any treaty
relating to enforcement of foreign-
country judgments, under the U.S.
(Federal) Constitution, contract law
remains primarily a matter for the states,
each of which has developed distinctive
substantive and procedural law. This
gives rise to potentially significant
strategic considerations for anyone
considering enforcing contractual rights
against parties based, or with significant
assets, in the U.S.
It may be helpful to clarify from
the outset that the correct U.S. legal
terminology for judgments and orders
("judgments") issued by courts or
tribunals ("courts") in a different country
is "foreign-country judgment," not
judgment from another U.S. jurisdiction.
Additionally, for reasons of space, this
article addresses only enforcement
of court judgments arising out of
commercial contracts. Different rules
exist for arbitral awards, non-monetary
awards and for monetary judgments
arising out of other causes.
The first stage in enforcing a
foreign-country judgment is an action to
domesticate it in a U.S. court. This is a
litigation proceeding where the judgment
holder petitions the court to, in effect,
convert the foreign court's judgment
into a judgment of the U.S. court. The
other party has the right to contest the
judgment and the court must satisfy
itself (in very general terms) that the
original court had a reasonable basis for
asserting jurisdiction over the defendant,
Effective Enforcement in the United States
of Commercial Money Judgments Imposed
by Courts in Other Countries