FOREIGN JUDGMENTS ACT 1991 - SECT 7 Setting aside a registered judgment

FOREIGN JUDGMENTS ACT 1991 - SECT 7

  (1)   A party against whom a registered judgment is enforceable, or would be enforceable but for an order under section   8, may seek to have the registration of the judgment set aside by duly applying to the court in which the judgment was registered, or (where applicable) a court in which the judgment was registered under Part   6 of the Service and Execution of Process Act 1992 , to have the registration of the judgment set aside.

  (2)   Where a judgment debtor duly applies to have the registration of the judgment set aside, the court:

  (a)   must set the registration of that judgment aside if it is satisfied:

  (i)   that the judgment is not, or has ceased to be, a judgment to which this Part applies; or

  (ii)   that the judgment was registered for an amount greater than the amount payable under it at the date of registration; or

  (iii)   that the judgment was registered in contravention of this Act; or

  (iv)   that the courts of the country of the original court had no jurisdiction in the circumstances of the case; or

  (v)   that the judgment debtor, being the defendant in the proceedings in the original court, did not (whether or not process had been duly served on the judgment debtor in accordance with the law of the country of the original court) receive notice of those proceedings in sufficient time to enable the judgment debtor to defend the proceedings and did not appear; or

  (vi)   that the judgment was obtained by fraud; or

  (vii)   that the judgment has been reversed on appeal or otherwise set aside in the courts of the country of the original court; or

  (viii)   that the rights under the judgment are not vested in the person by whom the application for registration was made; or

  (ix)   that the judgment has been discharged; or

  (x)   that the judgment has been wholly satisfied; or

  (xi)   that the enforcement of the judgment, not being a judgment under which an amount of money is payable in respect of New Zealand tax, would be contrary to public policy; or

  (b)   may set the registration of the judgment aside if it is satisfied that the matter in dispute in the proceedings in the original court had before the date of the judgment in the original court been the subject of a final and conclusive judgment by a court having jurisdiction in the matter.

  (3)   For the purposes of subparagraph   ( 2)(a)(iv) and subject to subsection   ( 4), the courts of the country of the original court are taken to have had jurisdiction:

  (a)   in the case of a judgment given in an action in personam :

  (i)   if the judgment debtor voluntarily submitted to the jurisdiction of the original court; or

  (ii)   if the judgment debtor was plaintiff in, or counter - claimed in, the proceedings in the original court; or

  (iii)   if the judgment debtor was a defendant in the original court and had agreed, in respect of the subject matter of the proceedings, before the proceedings commenced, to submit to the jurisdiction of that court or of the courts of the country of that court; or

  (iv)   if the judgment debtor was a defendant in the original court and, at the time when the proceedings were instituted, resided in, or (being a body corporate) had its principal place of business in, the country of that court; or

  (v)   if the judgment debtor was a defendant in the original court and the proceedings in that court were in respect of a transaction effected through or at an office or place of business that the judgment debtor had in the country of that court; or

  (vi)   if there is an amount of money payable in respect of New Zealand tax under the judgment; or

  (b)   in the case of a judgment given in an action of which the subject matter was immovable property or in an action in rem of which the subject matter was movable property--if the property in question was, at the time of the proceedings in the original, court situated in the country of that court; or

  (c)   in the case of a judgment given in an action other than an action of the kind referred to in paragraph   ( a) or (b)--if the jurisdiction of the original court is recognised by the law in force in the State or Territory in which the judgment is registered.

  (4)   In spite of subsection   ( 3), the courts of the country of the original court are not taken to have had jurisdiction:

  (a)   if the subject matter of the proceedings was immovable property situated outside the country of the original court; or

  (b)   except in the cases referred to in subparagraphs   ( 3)(a)(i), (ii) and (iii) and paragraph   ( 3)(c), if the bringing of the proceedings in the country of the original court was contrary to an agreement under which the dispute in question was to be settled otherwise than by proceedings in the courts of the country of that court; or

  (c)   if the judgment debtor, being a defendant in the original proceedings, was a person who under the rules of public international law was entitled to immunity from the jurisdiction of the courts of the country of the original court and did not submit to the jurisdiction of that court.

  (5)   For the purposes of subparagraph   ( 3)(a)(i), a person does not voluntarily submit to the jurisdiction of a court by:

  (a)   entering an appearance in proceedings in the court; or

  (b)   participating in proceedings in the court only to such extent as is necessary;

for the purpose only of one or more of the following:

  (c)   protecting, or obtaining the release of:

  (i)   property seized, or threatened with seizure, in the proceedings; or

  (ii)   property subject to an order restraining its disposition or disposal;

  (d)   contesting the jurisdiction of the court;

  (e)   inviting the court in its discretion not to exercise its jurisdiction in the proceedings.

  (6)   Where the registration of a judgment is set aside on an application to a court in which the judgment was registered under Part   IV of the Service and Execution of Process Act 1901 , the applicant must:

  (a)   forthwith notify the Registrar of the court in which the judgment was registered under this Act of the order setting the judgment aside; and

  (b)   within 7 days lodge a certified copy of the order in that court.