Absence Of Personal Jurisdiction Dooms Action To Domesticate Ohio Judgment In Indiana

Lesson. Domesticating an out-of-state judgment in Indiana is typically an easy and indefensible process, unless the original court lacked jurisdiction to enter the judgment in the first place.

Case cite. Ferrand Laser Screening v. Concrete Management, 150 N.E.3d 227 (Ind. Ct. App. 2020).

Legal issue. Whether a judgment creditor could domesticate and collect an Ohio judgment in Indiana.

Vital facts. Following construction-related litigation in Ohio, the judgment creditor (plaintiff) filed an action in Indiana against the judgment debtor (defendant) to domesticate and collect on the Ohio judgment. (Judgment Creditor also asserted claims against other defendants to pierce the corporate veil.)

Procedural history. Judgment Debtor filed a motion to dismiss the Indiana action on the basis that the judgment was not eligible for domestication because the Ohio court lacked personal jurisdiction. The trial court denied the motion. Judgment Debtor then filed a motion for summary judgment on the same basis that was denied. Following a bench trial, the court entered an order domesticating the Ohio judgment, and Judgment Debtor appealed.

Key rules. The Indiana Court of Appeals in Ferrand first noted that, under Indiana law, “a judgment of a sister state is presumed to be valid but is ‘open to collateral attack for want of personal jurisdiction or subject matter jurisdiction.’” Judgment debtors carry the burden of rebutting this presumption.

“In assessing a claim that a foreign judgment is void for lack of personal jurisdiction, [Indiana courts] apply the law of the state where the judgment was rendered.”

At issue in Ferrand were principles of “long-arm” jurisdiction from Ohio Revised Code 2307.382. (In Indiana, Trial Rule 4.4(A) governs long-arm jurisdiction.) Without going into detail, there are rules rooted in constitutional law that govern whether a court has personal jurisdiction (power) over an out-of-state defendant. To learn more, please read the opinion.

Holding. The Court held that the Ohio court lacked personal jurisdiction over Judgment Debtor and that the Ohio judgment was, accordingly, void.

Policy/rationale. The Court examined the evidence pertinent to the procedural issues and concluded that Ohio’s long-arm statute did not confer personal jurisdiction over Judgment Debtor. For purposes of this blog, an analysis of the technicalities is not altogether important. What is significant, however, is that a foreign judgment may not be automatically enforceable in Indiana. Although the underlying merits of the judgment cannot be attacked, judgment debtors still can defend the action on the basis that the foreign court lacked jurisdiction (power) to enter the judgment in the first place—assuming the circumstances as applied to the foreign court’s procedural law warrant such a defense.

As an aside, the Judgment Creditor in Ferrand did not avail itself of Indiana’s user-friendly (my term) statute to domesticate the Ohio judgment: Indiana Code 34-54-11. As noted below, I’ve written about this procedure previously. The Court in Ferrand did not mention this statute, and Judgment Creditor proceeded instead to file a new cause of action seeking a judgment to domesticate. I’m not here to say that was wrong—just that the parties, the trial court, and the Court of Appeals did not address it. I suspect the reason behind Judgment Creditor’s tactic was that its action was not limited to domestication but included separate claims against third parties that warranted a new lawsuit.

Related posts.

• 6 Steps To Domesticate A Foreign Judgment In Indiana 
• Domesticating Foreign Judgments Under Indiana's New Electronic Filing System 
• Enforcement Of Wisconsin Judgment In Indiana Defeated
• New York Confession Of Judgment From Cognovit Note Enforceable In Indiana
• Indiana Court of Appeals Vacates Trial Court Order Domesticating Illinois Judgment 

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Part of my practice involves representing judgment creditors in their efforts to collect debts. If you need assistance with a similar matter, please call me at 317-639-6151 or email me at [email protected]. Also, don’t forget that you can follow me on Twitter @JohnDWaller or on LinkedIn, or you can subscribe to posts via RSS or email as noted on my home page.