Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau

This bill incorporates into Wisconsin law the 2005 Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act adopted by the Uniform Law Commission. The bill requires the courts of this state to recognize a judgment of a court outside the United States that grants or denies the recovery of a sum of money. Under the bill, to receive recognition by this state's courts, the foreign country's judgment must be final, conclusive, and enforceable. The bill excludes foreign-country money judgments that are for taxes, for forfeitures or fines, or for support, maintenance, or a property division in connection with a domestic relations case.

Under the bill, this state's circuit courts are prohibited from recognizing a foreign-country money judgment that was rendered by a judicial system that does not provide procedures compatible with the due process of law or that did not have jurisdiction over the subject matter. In addition, a circuit court may not recognize a foreign-country money judgment if the foreign court did not have personal jurisdiction over the defendant, but for purposes of the bill, personal jurisdiction exists if any one of a number of criteria are met, including that the defendant was personally served with process in the foreign country, the defendant voluntarily appeared in the foreign court, the defendant had agreed to submit to the jurisdiction of the foreign court, the defendant was domiciled in the country where the foreign judgment was rendered, or the defendant was a business that was organized under the laws of, or had its principal place of business in, that foreign country.

The bill allows the circuit courts to refuse to recognize a foreign-country money judgment for a number of reasons, including if the defendant did not receive sufficient timely notice of the proceedings, if the judgment was obtained by fraud, if the claim for relief that resulted in the judgment is repugnant to the public policy of this state, if the judgment conflicts with another final and conclusive judgment, or if the circumstances of the rendering of the judgment raise substantial doubt about the integrity of the foreign court that rendered the judgment.

The bill requires the circuit court, if it determines that the foreign-country money judgment deserves recognition, to give the judgment full faith and credit in this state, and to enforce that judgment in the same manner as a judgment rendered by a court in this state.

The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do enact as follows:

AB718,1 Section 1. Subchapter I (title) of chapter 806 [precedes 806.01] of the statutes is created to read:

AB718,2,3 Chapter 806

AB718,2,5 subchapter I Judgment; general

AB718,2 Section 2. Subchapter II (title) of chapter 806 [precedes 806.30] of the statutes is created to read:

AB718,2,8 Chapter 806

AB718,2,11 Subchapter ii judgment; Uniform foreign money claims

AB718,3 Section 3. Subchapter III (title) of chapter 806 [precedes 806.50] of the statutes is created to read:

AB718,3,1 Chapter 806

AB718,3,4 Subchapter III judgment; Uniform foreign-country money judgments recognition

AB718,4 Section 4. 806.50 of the statutes is created to read:

AB718,3,6 806.50 Definitions. (1) In this subchapter:

AB718,3,7 (a) “Foreign country" means a government other than one of the following:

AB718,3,8 1. The U.S. government.

AB718,3,10 2. The government of a state, district, commonwealth, territory, or insular possession of the United States.

AB718,3,13 3. Any other government with regard to which the decision in this state as to whether to recognize the judgment of that government's courts is initially subject to a determination under article IV, section 1, of the U.S. Constitution.

AB718,3,14 4. A federally recognized Indian tribe or band in this state.

AB718,3,16 (b) “Foreign-country judgment" means a judgment of a court of a foreign country.

AB718,5 Section 5. 806.51 of the statutes is created to read:

AB718,3,20 806.51 Applicability. (1) Except as provided in sub. (2), this subchapter applies to a foreign-country judgment to the extent that the foreign-country judgment meets all of the following criteria:

AB718,3,21 (a) Grants or denies recovery of a sum of money.

AB718,3,23 (b) Under the law of the foreign country where the foreign-country judgment is rendered, is final, conclusive, and enforceable.

AB718,4,3 (2) This subchapter does not apply to a foreign-country judgment, even if the foreign-country judgment grants or denies recovery of a sum of money, to the extent that the foreign-country judgment is any of the following: