Legal Definitions - foreign judgment

A foreign judgment refers to a final decision or order issued by a court in one jurisdiction that is then presented for recognition or enforcement in a court of a different jurisdiction.

This "foreign" jurisdiction could be another country, or, within a federal system like the United States, it could refer to a court in a different state.

• Example 1 (International Debt Collection):

  Imagine a business based in Germany sues a customer for unpaid invoices in a German court and wins, resulting in a judgment ordering the customer to pay a specific amount. If that customer then moves to Canada and has assets there, the German business might seek to have the Canadian courts recognize and enforce the German judgment to collect the debt in Canada. For the Canadian court, the German court's decision is considered a foreign judgment.

• Example 2 (Interstate Child Support):

  Consider a situation where a divorce decree, including an order for child support, is issued by a court in Florida. If the parent obligated to pay child support later moves to Georgia, and the other parent needs to enforce the support order or modify its terms, the Georgia court would treat the Florida court's original decree as a foreign judgment. The Georgia court would then typically register or domesticate this judgment to give it the same legal effect as if it had been issued in Georgia.

• Example 3 (Business Dispute Across States):

  Suppose a technology company headquartered in California successfully sues a competitor in a California state court for patent infringement, and the court awards them substantial damages. If the losing competitor's main assets and bank accounts are located in Texas, the California company would need to take the California judgment to a Texas court to have it recognized and enforced there to seize those assets. In the Texas legal system, the California court's ruling is a foreign judgment.