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The US-Israel Legal Review 2019 77
WHAT REQUIREMENTS MUST AN ISRAELI
JUDGEMENT SATISFY TO BE ENFORCEABLE
IN THE US?
As articulated above, to be subject to enforcement
and recognition, the Israeli judgment needs to
be: (1) final, (2) conclusive, and (3) enforceable
where rendered. Under the UFMJRA, if the creditor
can show that the Israeli judgment meets these
requirements, the burden of proof shifts to the
debtor to show that one or more of the grounds for
non-recognition applies.
Traditionally, to recognize or enforce a foreign
judgment, US courts applied the principal of
reciprocity—i.e., they required that the county that
rendered the judgment also recognize its judgments.
Most jurisdictions have now moved away from that
view, though a minority of states (e.g., Georgia,
Florida) still have that requirement. However, Israeli
courts do recognize US judgments,
see, e.g.
, C.A.
6796/97
Jacob Berg and Sons (Furniture) Ltd. v. Berg
East Imports Inc. (Jacob Berg)
, so this should not be
a barrier to recognition of Israeli judgments in US
courts. US courts alsowill not enforce foreign judgments
that conflict with another domestic or foreign final
and conclusive judgment made within Israel or the
United States.
A judgment debtor can also oppose recognition
of the judgment on grounds that the Israeli court
did not have personal jurisdiction over the debtor
or subject-matter jurisdiction over the suit.
Personal jurisdiction is the requirement that a
given court have power over the parties, based on
minimum contacts with the forum. Subject-matter
jurisdiction is the requirement that a given court
have power to adjudicate the suit before it.
The rules are similar with respect to arbitration
awards. Under the New York Convention, the United
States will recognise and enforce arbitral awards
issued in a country, like Israel, that is also a signatory
to the New York Convention. The recognition of
arbitration awards under the New York Convention
is driven by the site or seat of the arbitration, not the
nationalities of the parties to the dispute.
WHAT CONNECTION TO THE
JURISDICTION IS REQUIRED FOR THE
COURTS TO ACCEPT JURISDICTION FOR
THE RECOGNITION AND ENFORCEMENT
OF A FOREIGN JUDGEMENT?
Jurisdictional requirements for recognition and
enforcement of judgments depend on the relevant
state law at issue. Nevertheless, in general, state
courts where the judgment creditor has properly
filed a copy of the foreign judgment and is seeking
to monetize that judgment will have original
jurisdiction to grant or deny such petitions for
recognition and enforcement.
Creditors also generally need to show a
jurisdictional basis for bringing a judgment-
recognition action in the United States, although
the requirements vary by state. For example, until
recently New York courts recognized a foreign
judgment even if the court had neither personal
ROBERT W. HENOCH
TEL AVIV
JEF KLAZEN
NEW YORK
JEREMY BRESSMAN
TEL AVIV