Kahrs v. Rio Verde Energy Corp.

604 F. Supp. 877, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23504
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Ohio
DecidedJanuary 11, 1985
DocketNo. C-1-83-1582
StatusPublished

This text of 604 F. Supp. 877 (Kahrs v. Rio Verde Energy Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Ohio primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kahrs v. Rio Verde Energy Corp., 604 F. Supp. 877, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23504 (S.D. Ohio 1985).

Opinion

FINDINGS OF FACT, OPINION, AND CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

CARL B. RUBIN, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff seeks enforcement of an Order issued in the United Kingdom by the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court District Registry. The parties are in agreement that the case can be decided on the basis of briefs and stipu[878]*878lated facts. As a preliminary matter, however, several motions must first be ruled upon. The first is that of third-party plaintiff, Rio Verde Energy Corporation (“Rio Verde”), seeking a Default Judgment against third party defendant, The Seaham Company. (Doc. no. 10). As The Seaham Company has failed to defend the Third-Party Complaint against it, the Clerk of Courts is ORDERED to enter a Default Judgment in favor of Rio Verde pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 55(b)(1).

The next motions were also made by Rio Verde and go to the scope of the controversy. (Doc. nos. 16, 19). For the reasons stated below, both motions are DENIED.

I. Findings of Fact

The stipulated facts are as follows:

A. Plaintiff, Johann Kahrs, Jr., is a citizen and resident of West Germany.

B. Defendant, Rio Verde, is a Delaware corporation authorized to do business in the State of Ohio with its principal place of business in Ohio.

C. Joint Exhibit A is a true copy of an Order entered in London, England, in the High Court of Justice, Queen’s Bench Division, Commercial Court District Registry on October 22, 1982. It reads as follows:

Upon hearing counsel for the parties and upon reading the affidavit of Miss Ottilie Sefton filed herein, it is ordered (1) that the First Defendants do within 14 days pay to the credit of a joint account in the name of Plaintiff and the First Defendants at Stadtsparkasse Stade, 2160 Stade, Germany, the sum of DM. 162,750.00; (2) costs of this application be the Plaintiff’s (disallowing costs of preparation and service of points of claim); (3) leave to appeal refused.

D. At the prevailing rate of monetary exchange on October 22, 1982, DM 162,750.00 (deutsche marks) equaled $64,465.27 in United States currency.

E. Rio Verde has paid no money to any person or entity pursuant to the High Court Order.

F. The High Court had personal jurisdiction over Rio Verde.
G. Stadtsparkasse Stade is a West German bank which is not a party to this action.

II. Opinion

In order to properly formulate the issue involved in this case, Rio Verde’s Motion to Record Rulings (doc. no. 16) must be addressed. Through its Motion, Rio Verde seeks confirmation of a verbal ruling on the “finality” of the High Court’s Order. The only thing this Court decided in any ruling on finality was that it would not relitigate the underlying dispute decided by the High Court. Rio Verde was not foreclosed from attacking the “finality” of the Order, whatever that might mean. Indeed, Rio Verde did not hesitate to attack the finality of the Order in its Brief and Proposed Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law. Those arguments have been duly noted and addressed below. The fact remains, however, that Rio Verde stipulated to the authenticity of the Order and nowhere disputes the extent of its res judicata effect. The only remaining grounds for dispute, therefore, is whether the Order qualifies for full faith and credit under the laws of this country. The Court holds that it does.

The jurisdiction of this Court is founded on the grant of alienage jurisdiction in 28 U.S.C. § 1332. In such cases, the forum state’s full faith and credit principles provide the rule of decision. Royal Bank of Canada v. Trentham Corp., 665 F.2d 515 (5th Cir.1981); British Midland Airways, Ltd. v. International Travel, Inc., 497 F.2d 869 (9th Cir.1974). Ohio has one case on the enforcement of orders rendered in foreign countries. In declining to enforce a defective Mexican divorce decree, the Ohio Court of Appeals for Holmes County noted that states may recognize such decrees when they are found to be valid under the law of the foreign state and such recognition is harmonious with the public policy of Ohio. Yoder v. Yoder, 24 Ohio App.2d 71, 72, 263 N.E.2d 913 (1970). [879]*879The Court labeled such recognition “comity.” Id.

Long ago, the United States Supreme Court established the criteria for judging a foreign judgment worthy of enforcement.

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 faith and effect.

Hilton v. Guyot, 159 U.S. 113, 205-06, 16 S.Ct. 139, 159-60, 40 L.Ed. 95 (1895). The Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act, enacted in 12 states and reflective of the law in a majority, repeats the grounds for nonreeognition of foreign judgments listed in Hilton, and adds lack of notice, public policy, settlement, conflicting judgments, and inconvenient forum to the list. 13 U.L.A. § 4 (1984). The High Court’s Order in the instant case satisfies all the above requirements, and Rio Verde does not assert to the contrary. Instead, it attacks the Order as being an indefinite, conditional, mandatory injunction unworthy of enforcement.

Rio Verde criticizes the conclusiveness of the Order because it does not resolve all claims against all parties under Fed.R. Civ.P. 54(b), and it orders payment to a third-party bank. The Order, when read by itself, is a plain and simple order to Rio Verde to pay money into a joint account for Kahrs and Rio Verde in Stadtsparkasse Stade. Rio Verde offers various speculations about the existence of a second defendant and about the significance of payment into a third-party bank, but it offers no hard evidence as to the role of either. The only evidence in this case, aside from the Order and stipulations, is a copy of the contract that served as the basis for Kahrs’s claim in the High Court.

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Related

Hilton v. Guyot
159 U.S. 113 (Supreme Court, 1895)
The Royal Bank of Canada v. Trentham Corporation
665 F.2d 515 (Fifth Circuit, 1981)
Yoder v. Yoder
263 N.E.2d 913 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1970)
Price v. Price
447 N.E.2d 769 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1982)
Williams v. Williams
336 N.E.2d 426 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1975)

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Bluebook (online)
604 F. Supp. 877, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kahrs-v-rio-verde-energy-corp-ohsd-1985.