USA – NEW YORK Trends and Developments Contributed by: Christopher Harris and Leah Friedman, Latham & Watkins
Conclusion New York offers a well-developed and commercially sophisticated forum for the recognition and enforce - ment of foreign judgments. Once Article 53’s threshold requirements are satisfied, it is left to the judgment debtor to establish any grounds for non-recognition – and the threshold for that showing is high. Once recognised, the foreign judgment is treated as fully equivalent to a domestic judgment, and the judg - ment debtor may deploy all the powerful enforcement mechanisms available under New York law.
ment lien on real property. Judgment creditors may also pursue pre-judgment attachment and may use post-judgment discovery mechanisms, including sub - poenas and depositions directed at third parties with knowledge of the debtor’s assets and their location. Multi-state enforcement A domesticated foreign judgment is entitled to full faith and credit under Article IV, Section 1 of the U.S. Con - stitution. To enforce it in another state, the judgment creditor must “domesticate” it in that state under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (UEF - JA) – a streamlined procedure that involves filing the judgment in court with notice to the judgment debtor, who may then object, but only on narrow procedural grounds. CPLR, Article 54; Baker v Gen . Motors Corp ., 522 U.S. 222, 233 (1998) (“[T]he full faith and credit obligation is exacting. A final judgment in one State, if rendered by a court with adjudicatory authority over the subject matter and persons governed by the judg - ment, qualifies for recognition throughout the land”).
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