Chapter 806

806.24(5) (5) Optional procedure. The right of a judgment creditor to bring an action to enforce the judgment instead of proceeding under this section remains unimpaired.

806.24(6) (6) Uniformity of interpretation. This section shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law of those states which enact it.

806.24(7) (7) Short title. This act may be cited as the “Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act”.

806.24 History History: Sup. Ct. Order, 67 Wis. 2d 585, 738 (1975); 1975 c. 218; 1995 a. 224.

806.24 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See s. 618.61 for provision for reciprocal enforcement of foreign insurance decrees or orders.

806.24 Annotation The established constitutional principles that: 1) without proper service of process, no full faith and credit need be accorded a foreign judgment; 2) want of jurisdiction is a matter of legitimate inquiry when enforcement of such a judgment is sought; and 3) mere recital of jurisdiction or jurisdictional facts is not sufficient to bar such inquiry, apply to both actions in rem and quasi in rem as well as to personal judgments. Hansen v. McAndrews, 49 Wis. 2d 625, 183 N.W.2d 1 (1971).

806.24 Annotation The rate of interest provided by a foreign judgment docketed in Wisconsin controls rather than the s. 815.05 (8) rate. Professional Office Buildings, Inc. v. Royal Indemnity Co., 145 Wis. 2d 573, 427 N.W.2d 427 (Ct. App. 1988).

806.245 806.245 Indian tribal documents: full faith and credit.

806.245(1) (1) The judicial records, orders and judgments of an Indian tribal court in Wisconsin and acts of an Indian tribal legislative body shall have the same full faith and credit in the courts of this state as do the acts, records, orders and judgments of any other governmental entity, if all of the following conditions are met:

806.245(1)(a) (a) The tribe which creates the tribal court and tribal legislative body is organized under 25 USC 461 to 479.

806.245(1)(b) (b) The tribal documents are authenticated under sub. (2).

806.245(1)(c) (c) The tribal court is a court of record.

806.245(1)(d) (d) The tribal court judgment offered in evidence is a valid judgment.

806.245(1)(e) (e) The tribal court certifies that it grants full faith and credit to the judicial records, orders and judgments of the courts of this state and to the acts of other governmental entities in this state.

806.245(1m) (1m) The public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of any Indian tribe that are applicable to an Indian child custody proceeding, as defined in s. 48.028 (2) (d), or an Indian juvenile child custody proceeding, as defined in s. 938.028 (2) (b), shall be given full faith and credit by the state as provided in s. 48.028 (3) (f) or 938.028 (3) (f).

806.245(2) (2) To qualify for admission as evidence in the courts of this state:

806.245(2)(a) (a) Copies of acts of a tribal legislative body shall be authenticated by the certificate of the tribal chairperson and tribal secretary.

806.245(2)(b) (b) Copies of records, orders and judgments of a tribal court shall be authenticated by the attestation of the clerk of the court. The seal, if any, of the court shall be affixed to the attestation.

806.245(3) (3) In determining whether a tribal court is a court of record, the circuit court shall determine that:

806.245(3)(a) (a) The court keeps a permanent record of its proceedings.

806.245(3)(b) (b) Either a transcript or an electronic recording of the proceeding at issue in the tribal court is available.

806.245(3)(c) (c) Final judgments of the court are reviewable by a superior court.

806.245(3)(d) (d) The court has authority to enforce its own orders through contempt proceedings.

806.245(4) (4) In determining whether a tribal court judgment is a valid judgment, the circuit court on its own motion, or on the motion of a party, may examine the tribal court record to assure that:

806.245(4)(a) (a) The tribal court had jurisdiction of the subject matter and over the person named in the judgment.

806.245(4)(b) (b) The judgment is final under the laws of the rendering court.

806.245(4)(c) (c) The judgment is on the merits.

806.245(4)(d) (d) The judgment was procured without fraud, duress or coercion.

806.245(4)(e) (e) The judgment was procured in compliance with procedures required by the rendering court.

806.245(4)(f) (f) The proceedings of the tribal court comply with the Indian civil rights act of 1968 under 25 USC 1301 to 1341.

806.245(5) (5) No lien or attachment based on a tribal court judgment may be filed, entered in the judgment and lien docket or recorded in this state against the real or personal property of any person unless the judgment has been given full faith and credit by a circuit court under this section.

806.245(6) (6) A foreign protection order, as defined in s. 813.128 (1g) (c), issued by an Indian tribal court in this state shall be accorded full faith and credit under s. 813.128.

806.245 History History: 1981 c. 369; 1991 a. 43; 1995 a. 224, 306; 2009 a. 94; 2015 a. 352.

806.245 Annotation The prior action rule, which provides that, when one court assumes jurisdiction, it is reversible error for another court to do so, does not apply to the court of an independent sovereign. In this case, principles of comity required state and tribal courts to confer and allocate jurisdiction among themselves. Teague v. Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, 2000 WI 79, 236 Wis. 2d 384, 612 N.W.2d 709, 98-3150. See also Teague v. Bad River Band of Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians, 2003 WI 118, 265 Wis. 2d 64, 665 N.W.2d 899, 01-1256.

806.245 Annotation Full faith and credit does not require automatically admitting to the state bar any attorney who was admitted to a tribal court in Wisconsin. Helgemo v. Board of Bar Examiners, 2002 WI 57, 253 Wis. 2d 82, 644 N.W.2d 912, 01-2611.

806.25 806.25 No judgment without action. Any authorization in a note executed after June 18, 1972, for the creditor, or other person acting on the creditor’s behalf, to confess judgment for the debtor shall be void and unenforceable.

806.25 History History: 1973 c. 261; Sup. Ct. Order, 67 Wis. 2d 585, 740 (1975); 1975 c. 218.

806.30 806.30 Definitions. In ss. 806.30 to 806.44:

806.30(1) (1) “Action” means a judicial proceeding or arbitration in which a money payment may be awarded or enforced with respect to a foreign-money claim.

806.30(1m) (1m) “Bank-offered spot rate” means the rate of exchange at which a bank will issue its draft in a foreign money or will cause credit to become available in a foreign money on a next-day basis.

806.30(2) (2) “Conversion date” means the banking day before the date that money is used, under ss. 806.30 to 806.44, for one of the following:

806.30(2)(a) (a) To pay a judgment creditor.

806.30(2)(b) (b) To pay the designated official enforcing a judgment on behalf of the judgment creditor.

806.30(2)(c) (c) To effect a recoupment or setoff of claims in different moneys in an action.

806.30(3) (3) “Distribution proceeding” means a judicial or nonjudicial proceeding for an accounting, an assignment for the benefit of creditors, a foreclosure, a liquidation or rehabilitation of a corporation or other entity or a distribution of an estate, trust or other fund in which or against which a foreign-money claim is asserted.

806.30(4) (4) “Foreign money” means money other than money authorized or adopted by the United States of America.

806.30(5) (5) “Foreign-money claim” means a claim upon an obligation to pay or a claim for recovery of a loss, expressed in or measured by a foreign money.

806.30(6) (6) “Money” means a medium of exchange for the payment of obligations or a store of value authorized or adopted by a government or by intergovernmental agreement.

806.30(8) (8) “Party” means an individual, corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, partnership, or association of 2 or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity asserting or defending against a foreign-money claim.

806.30(9) (9) “Rate of exchange” means the rate at which the money of one country may be converted into money of another country in a free financial market convenient to or reasonably usable by the party obliged to pay or to state a rate of conversion. If separate rates of exchange apply to different kinds of transactions or events, the term means the rate applicable to the particular transaction or event giving rise to the foreign-money claim.

806.30(10) (10) “Spot rate” means the rate of exchange at which foreign money is sold by a bank or other dealer in foreign exchange for settlement by immediate payment, by charge to an account, or by an agreed delayed settlement not exceeding 2 days.

806.30(11) (11) “State” means a state, territory or possession of the United States of America, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or the United States Virgin Islands.

806.30 History History: 1991 a. 236.

806.31 806.31 Scope.

806.31(1) (1) Sections 806.30 to 806.44 apply only to a foreign-money claim in an action or distribution proceeding.

806.31(2) (2) Sections 806.30 to 806.44 apply to foreign-money issues notwithstanding the law applicable under the conflict of laws rules of this state to other issues in the action or distribution proceeding.

806.31 History History: 1991 a. 236.

806.32 806.32 Variation by agreement.

806.32(1) (1) The parties may agree to vary from the effects of ss. 806.30 to 806.44 at any time before or after the commencement of an action or distribution proceeding, or the entry of judgment.

806.32(2) (2) The parties may agree upon the money to be used in a transaction giving rise to a foreign-money claim and may use different moneys for different aspects of the transaction. Stating the price in a foreign money for a particular transaction does not require, of itself, the use of that money for other aspects of the transaction.

806.32 History History: 1991 a. 236.

806.33 806.33 Determining the money of the claim.

806.33(1) (1) Except as provided in sub. (2), the proper money of the claim is one of the following:

806.33(1)(a) (a) The money regularly used between the parties as a matter of usage or course of dealing.

806.33(1)(b) (b) The money used at the time of a transaction in international trade, by trade usage, or common practice, for valuing or settling transactions in the particular commodity or service involved.

806.33(1)(c) (c) The money in which the loss was ultimately felt or will be incurred by a party.

806.33(2) (2) The money in which the parties have contracted that a payment be made is the proper money of the claim for that payment.

806.33 History History: 1991 a. 236.

806.34 806.34 Determining the amount of the money of certain contract claims.

806.34(1) (1) If an amount contracted to be paid in a foreign money is measured by a specified amount of a different money, the amount to be paid is determined on the conversion date.

806.34(2) (2) If an amount contracted to be paid in a foreign money is to be measured by a different money at the rate of exchange prevailing on a date before default, that rate of exchange applies only for payments made a reasonable time after default, not to exceed 30 days. Thereafter, the bank-offered spot rate of exchange on the conversion date applies.

806.34(3) (3) A monetary claim is neither usurious nor unconscionable because the agreement on which it is based provides that the amount of the debtor’s obligation to be paid in the debtor’s money must, when received by the creditor, equal a specified amount of the foreign money of the country of the creditor. If, because of unexcused delay in payment of a judgment or award, the amount received by the creditor does not equal the amount of the foreign money specified in the agreement, the court or arbitrator shall amend the judgment or award to provide the creditor with the amount of the foreign money specified in the agreement.

806.34 History History: 1991 a. 236.

806.35 806.35 Asserting and defending a foreign-money claim.

806.35(1) (1) A claimant may assert a claim in a specified foreign money. If a foreign money is not asserted, the claimant makes a claim for a judgment in U.S. dollars.

806.35(2) (2) An opposing party may allege and prove that the claim is, in whole or in part, for a different money than that asserted by the claimant.

806.35(3) (3) Any party may assert a defense, setoff, recoupment or counterclaim in any money without regard to the money of other claims.

806.35(4) (4) The determination of the proper money of the claim is a question of law.

806.35 History History: 1991 a. 236.

806.36 806.36 Judgments and awards on foreign-money claims; times of money conversion; form of judgment.

806.36(1) (1) Except as provided in sub. (3), a judgment or arbitration award on a foreign-money claim must be stated in an amount of the money of the claim.

806.36(2) (2) The judgment or award on a foreign-money claim is payable in that foreign money or, at the option of the debtor, in the amount of U.S. dollars that will purchase that foreign money on the conversion date at a bank-offered spot rate.

806.36(3) (3) Assessed costs must be entered in U.S. dollars.

806.36(4) (4) Each payment in U.S. dollars must be accepted and credited on the judgment or award in the amount of the foreign money that could be purchased by U.S. dollars at a bank-offered spot rate of exchange at or near the close of business on the conversion date of that payment.

806.36(5) (5) Judgments or awards made in an action on both a defense, setoff, recoupment or counterclaim and on the adverse party’s claim must be netted by converting the money of the smaller into the money of the larger and subtracting the smaller from the larger, and must specify the rate of exchange used.

806.36(6) (6) A judgment substantially in the following form complies with sub. (1):

IT IS ADJUDGED AND ORDERED, that defendant .... (insert name) pay to plaintiff .... (insert name) the sum of .... (insert amount in the foreign money) plus interest on that sum at the rate of ....% (insert rate - see Section 806.38 of the Wisconsin Statutes) per year or, at the option of the judgment debtor, the number of U.S. dollars that will purchase the .... (insert name of foreign money) with interest due, at a bank-offered spot rate at or near the close of business on the banking day before the day of payment, together with assessed costs of $.... (insert amount) U.S. dollars.

806.36(7) (7) If a contract claim is of the type covered by s. 806.34 (1) or (2), the judgment or award for the amount of the money stated to measure the obligation to be paid shall be entered in the money specified for payment or, at the option of the debtor, in the number of U.S. dollars that will purchase the computed amount of the money of payment on the conversion date at a bank-offered spot rate.

806.36(8) (8) A judgment shall be filed with the clerk of circuit court and entered in the judgment and lien docket in foreign money in the same manner and shall have the same effect as other judgments.