Desert Sun Loan Corporation v Hill
Jurisdiction | England & Wales |
Judge | Stuart-Smith,Evans,Roch L JJ. |
Judgment Date | 15 February 1996 |
Court | Court of Appeal (Civil Division) |
Date | 15 February 1996 |
Court of Appeal
Before Lord Justice Stuart-Smith, Lord Justice Evans and Lord Justice Roch
Practice - foreign judgment - issue estoppel cannot be relied on
Where a defendant against whom plaintiffs sought to enforce a foreign judgment had unsuccessfully challenged the foreign court's jurisdiction over him but that court had not decided the specific issue now raised, namely whether the defendant had voluntarily appeared before the foreign court, the plaintiffs could not rely on issue estoppel to establish their case.
The Court of Appeal so held in a reserved judgment dismissing, subject to a condition, an appeal by the plaintiffs, Desert Sun Loan Corporation, against leave to defend the action granted by Mr Walter Aylen, QC, sitting as a deputy judge of the Queen's Bench Division, to the defendant, David Walter Hill, of Boden's Ride, Swinley Forest, South Ascot, Berkshire.
Mr Charles Falconer, QC, for the plaintiffs; Mr Christopher Semken for the defendant.
LORD JUSTICE EVANS said that the plaintiff bank obtained judgment in Arizona against a limited partnership for the amount due under a promissory note and against certain of the partners, including the defendant, as guarantors.
US attorneys acting for the partnership accepted service of the proceedings on behalf of the defendant as well as the partnership and the other guarantors. The defendant said that he did not authorise them to do that. He applied to the Arizona court to set aside the judgment but his application failed. The plaintiffs' claim in the present proceedings was to enforce the judgment against the defendant, who was resident here.
The plaintiffs said that the defendant was barred by the Arizona court's ruling from raising the same issue here, and that he had no arguable defence so that they were entitled to summary judgment under Order 14 of the Rules of the Supreme Court.
Their plea of issue estoppel raised a question of some general interest and importance, but the first question was whether the defendant had shown that he had an arguable defence. Only if he had did it become necessary to decide whether the rules regarding issue estoppel prevented him from raising the defence in the present proceedings.
The judgment sued upon was that of the Superior Court for the State of Arizona dated January 2, 1992. The other named guarantors were Mr William J Graham and Mrs Kerry R Graham. The formal judgment...
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