§ 9-12-113.Recognition and enforcement of foreign-country judgments

Subsection (a) states the default rule: once a foreign-country judgment meets the threshold requirements of the preceding Code section, a Georgia court shall recognize it, except as subsection (b) provides otherwise. Recognition, in other words, is the starting position, not something the judgment holder has to affirmatively earn beyond that threshold showing.

Subsection (b) then lists eleven distinct circumstances, connected by "or," any one of which requires a Georgia court to withhold recognition. Several concern the rendering court's own fairness and authority — whether the judicial system provided impartial tribunals and due process, whether the foreign court had personal jurisdiction over the defendant, whether it had jurisdiction over the subject matter, and whether the defendant received notice in time to mount a defense. Others concern the judgment's integrity and consistency — whether it was procured by fraud that kept the losing party from adequately presenting its case, whether it or its underlying claim offends Georgia's or the nation's public policy, and whether it conflicts with another final and conclusive judgment. The remaining grounds address the forum itself — whether the proceeding violated an agreement between the parties to resolve their dispute somewhere else, whether the only basis for jurisdiction was personal service in a seriously inconvenient forum, whether circumstances cast substantial doubt on that particular court's integrity, and whether the specific proceeding leading to the judgment met due-process standards.

Subsection (c) assigns the burden on all eleven grounds to the party resisting recognition. That party must establish that at least one ground applies; the party seeking recognition does not have to disprove all eleven to obtain the benefit of the general rule in subsection (a).