Gaudreau v. Kelly

826 N.W.2d 164, 298 Mich. App. 148
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedOctober 16, 2012
DocketDocket No. 304345
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 826 N.W.2d 164 (Gaudreau v. Kelly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaudreau v. Kelly, 826 N.W.2d 164, 298 Mich. App. 148 (Mich. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

TALBOT, J.

In this matter involving the enforcement of a child support order issued in the province of Quebec, Canada, Joseph James Brian Kelly appeals as of right the trial court’s order enforcing the Quebec child support order under the principle of international comity. We affirm.

Serge and Claire Gaudreau are the maternal grandparents of the two minor children for whom the Quebec support order was issued. The children began living with the Gaudreaus on July 27, 2008, because neither Kelly nor their daughter, from whom he was divorced in September 2003, was able to care for them. On February 27, 2009, the Superior Court of Canada, Erovince of Quebec, District of Quebec, granted the Gaudreaus custody of the children and ordered Kelly to pay monthly child support in the amount of $1,005.81 (Canadian dollars). Kelly, however, did not pay his child support and accumulated an arrearage. After unsuccessful attempts to collect child support from Kelly, who had begun to live and work in the United States, the [151]*151Gaudreaus hired an attorney in the United States. The Gaudreaus then attempted to register and enforce the Quebec child support order with the Oakland County Friend of the Court. It appears that the Friend of the Court denied their request because the United States and Quebec had not entered into a reciprocity agreement as set forth in the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA).1 The Gaudreaus then filed a complaint for child support, requesting in pertinent part that the trial court declare Quebec a reciprocating state,2 register and enforce the Quebec child support order, and require Kelly to immediately pay the arrearage. The trial court subsequently granted the Gaudreaus’ complaint for support and found that it had subject-matter jurisdiction to enforce the judgment under the principle of comity.

Kelly argues that because Quebec is not a reciprocating state under the UIFSA, the trial court’s reliance on comity to enforce the Quebec child support order violated this state’s public policy as contained in the UIFSA. We disagree. Both the trial court’s determination that it had subject-matter jurisdiction3 and that the foreign judgment was appropriately enforced based on the principle of comity4 are reviewed de novo by this Court. This Court reviews for clear error a trial court’s findings of fact.5 In the application of the clearly erroneous standard, “regard shall be given to the special [152]*152opportunity of the trial court to judge the credibility of the witnesses who appeared before it.”6 “A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire record is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.”7

It is well-settled that the principle of comity is “the recognition which one nation allows within its territory to the legislative, executive, or judicial acts of another nation, having due regard both to international duty and convenience and to the rights of its own citizens or of other persons who are under the protection of its laws.”8 Comity “is neither a matter of absolute obligation, on the one hand, nor of mere courtesy and good will, upon the other.”9 To determine whether a court should give full effect to a judgment of a foreign country on the basis of comity, the following factors should be applied:

[W]here there has been opportunity for a full and fair trial abroad before a court of competent jurisdiction, conducting the trial upon regular proceedings, after due citation or voluntary appearance of the defendant, and under a system of jurisprudence likely to secure an impartial administration of justice between the citizens of its own country and those of other countries, and there is nothing to show either prejudice in the court[] or in the system of laws under which it was sitting, or fraud in procuring the judgment, or any other special reason why the comity of this nation should not allow it full effect, the merits of the case should not, in an action brought in this country upon the judgment, be tried afresh, as on a new trial or an
[153]*153appeal, upon the mere assertion of the party that the judgment was erroneous in law or in fact.[10]

Before comity is invoked and a final decision is imposed on a party, “it is the paramount duty of the court before which any suit is brought to see to it that the parties have had a fair and impartial trial[.]”11 As explained by our country’s Supreme Court:

When an action is brought in a court of this country, by a citizen of a foreign country against one of our own citizens, to recover a sum of money adjudged by a court of that country to be due from the defendant to the plaintiff, and the foreign judgment appears to have been rendered by a competent court having jurisdiction of the cause and of the parties, and upon due allegations and proofs and opportunity to defend against them, and its proceedings are according to the course of a civilized jurisprudence, and are stated in a clear and formal record, the judgment is prima facie evidence, at least, of the truth of the matter adjudged; and it should be held conclusive upon the merits tried in the foreign court, unless some special ground is shown for impeaching the judgment, as by showing that it was affected by fraud or prejudice, or that by the principles of international law and by the comity of our own country it should not be given full credit and effect.[12]

In this case, the trial court found that it had been presented with “clear and formal pleadings of record filed in the Quebec court.” The trial court specifically held that “[i]t is evident from the February 27, 2010 [sic] Order in Quebec, Canada that [Kelly] had a fair hearing on the merits and that he was represented by counsel, and actively participated in the proceeding.” The Quebec order is signed by the Honorable Claude [154]*154Bouchard, dated February 27, 2009, and is part of the lower court record. The Quebec order notes that the Quebec court was in receipt of the Gaudreaus’ motion for custody and child support. The Quebec order also indicates that it had received Kelly’s response. The Quebec order further states that on January 28, 2009, Kelly had been ordered to appear at the hearing regarding the Gaudreaus’ motion that took place on February 23, 2009.

Kelly testified that he was aware of the proceedings in Quebec and that he had retained an attorney to represent him in those proceedings. Although neither Kelly nor his attorney were present at the hearing, there is documentary evidence that both Kelly and his attorney had notice of the hearing in Quebec regarding child support and Kelly’s attorney responded to the Gaudreaus’ motion. At the instant evidentiary hearing, Kelly testified that there was nothing that had prevented him from appearing at the hearing other than “the hardship of getting there.” Clearly, Kelly had every opportunity to take part in the hearing and defend against the Gaudreaus’ allegations.

Regarding the calculation of benefits, the Gaudreaus’ Canadian attorney, Sandra Armanda, sent a series of letters to Kelly’s Canadian attorney and those letters are part of the record.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Michelene Crowley v. Michigan Realty Solutions
Michigan Court of Appeals, 2020
Walbridge Aldinger LLC v. John Carter
Michigan Court of Appeals, 2019
Mlive Media Group v. City of Grand Rapdis
909 N.W.2d 282 (Michigan Court of Appeals, 2017)
Tonya K Cook v. Frank L Boersema
Michigan Court of Appeals, 2016

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
826 N.W.2d 164, 298 Mich. App. 148, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaudreau-v-kelly-michctapp-2012.