Article 13: Judgments · Last amended 2021 · Last verified July 22, 2026
Laws 2021, LB501, § 6.
Before a foreign-country judgment can do any work in Nebraska — before it can be enforced against a debtor’s wages, bank account, or property — a court has to recognize it. Section 25-1342 tells a party how to put that question in front of a judge. The first route is to file an action for recognition as its own lawsuit, with the foreign judgment as the entire subject of the case. That route fits a judgment holder who wants a Nebraska judgment on the books before trying to collect.
The second route works inside litigation that’s already underway. If someone sues the judgment debtor on a related matter, or the debtor sues first, the party holding the foreign judgment can raise recognition as a counterclaim, a cross-claim, or an affirmative defense rather than starting a separate case. This flexibility keeps a judgment holder from having to open two lawsuits over one dispute, and lets a foreign judgment work as a shield — an affirmative defense — as easily as a sword.
Section 25-1342 only sets the doorway; it doesn’t decide whether the judgment gets recognized once the door opens. That question is answered under the standards set out earlier in the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act, and if the judgment clears those standards, section 25-1343 spells out what recognition means in practice.
Yes. Section 25-1342 lets a party file an action whose only purpose is to seek recognition of the foreign-country judgment.
Recognition doesn’t have to wait for a separate lawsuit. It can be raised as a counterclaim, a cross-claim, or an affirmative defense in a case that’s already pending.
The vehicle differs but the underlying standards do not. Either way, the court applies the same recognition rules set out in the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act.
No. It only describes how to raise the issue. Whether the judgment qualifies for recognition depends on the Act’s substantive grounds and defenses addressed elsewhere in the statute.
A person already sued on the underlying debt, or on a related claim, can point to a prior foreign judgment as an affirmative defense instead of opening a second lawsuit.
Recognition triggers the consequences described in section 25-1343 — the judgment becomes conclusive between the parties and enforceable the way a Nebraska judgment is enforceable.