Adopting the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act

What it would have done

Summary by the Legislative Reference Bureau, the Legislature's nonpartisan drafting office. It's their wording, not ours.

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.

Who's behind it

2 senators are its authors⁠. 1 is a Democrat and 1 is a Republican.

6 more lawmakers signed on in support⁠.