Recognition by New York Court of foreign judgment based on arbitration award (Cargill Financial Services International Inc v Barshchovskiy)
Arbitration analysis: Cargill Financial Services International Inc (Plaintiff) won an arbitration award in London against Mr Barshchovskiy, a Ukrainian national (Defendant). The English Commercial Court issued a judgment confirming the award. Plaintiff then sought to have this English judgment recognized by a New York Court. Defendant resisted such recognition claiming the court did not have personal jurisdiction over him and the exercise of personal jurisdiction would violate the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution. This argument was rejected by the Court. Enforcement of foreign money judgments does require the establishment of personal jurisdiction over a judgment debtor (or their assets) but recognition of a foreign judgment is a ministerial act that, absent a few exceptions, does not require establishment of personal jurisdiction. Defendant’s assertions about inadequacies in the underlying arbitration should have been raised before the English Court and were therefore irrelevant when it came to deciding whether to recognize the English judgment. Written by Alex Wilbraham, solicitor England & Wales, Attorney California, independent arbitrator and member of Arbitra International.