HB 735 Summary

• Enacts the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act, establishing standards for Mississippi courts to recognize and enforce monetary judgments rendered by foreign country courts.

• Applies to foreign judgments granting or denying recovery of money that are final and enforceable in the foreign country, but excludes judgments for taxes, fines, penalties, and domestic relations matters.

• Requires courts to recognize foreign judgments unless grounds for non-recognition exist, including lack of impartial tribunals, lack of personal or subject matter jurisdiction, inadequate notice, fraud, public policy violations, or conflicts with other final judgments.

• Allows foreign judgments to be recognized through a standalone action or as a counterclaim, cross-claim, or affirmative defense in pending actions, with recognition giving them the same conclusive effect and enforceability as sister state judgments.

• Establishes a 15-year statute of limitations for actions seeking recognition of foreign judgments, effective July 1, 2011, and applies to actions commenced on or after that date.