Tettamanti v. Opcion Sociedad Anonima
Tettamanti v. Opcion Sociedad Anonima
Opinion of the Court
Enrique Tettamanti and Maria Cristina Calvo appeal a circuit court order denying
Tettamanti and Calvo previously and unsuccessfully appealed the order granting recognition to the final judgment entered in Argentina in 2007.
As in the prior appeals involving these parties, Florida’s Uniform Out-of-Country Foreign Money-Judgment Recognition Act, sections 55.601-607, Florida Statutes (2008), is controlling. Recognition may be granted for a “judgment of a foreign state granting or denying recovery of a sum of money, other than a judgment for taxes, a fine, or other penalty,”
Once recognition has been granted, the judgment is a Florida judgment and may be enforced in the same manner as any other Florida money judgment. The important distinction is that a post-recognition collateral attack on the judgment ordinarily should be directed to the foreign court rather than the Florida court. The collateral attacks presented by Tettamanti and Calvo in Florida in this most recent challenge claimed: (1) the Argentine judgment is not really final or enforceable in Argentina, based on more recent pronouncements by the Argentine court; (2) the judgments in both jurisdictions were based on fraud by Opción; and (8) the Florida judgment should not have converted the Argentine judgment debt from Argentine pesos to U.S. dollars at a rate of one to one.
Regarding the first of these arguments, the certified translations of the more recent court orders in Argentina and the letters rogatory issued by the court there do not instruct Opción to stop its Florida enforcement efforts. We appreciate the care a court in one country may take to avoid any inference of interference with the jurisdiction and discretion of a court in another country,
Tettamanti’s and Calvo’s second argument is that the Florida court should have vacated the recognition order based on fraud and misconduct by Opción. If the alleged fraud and misconduct consisted of forging or altering the judgment entered in Argentina in the course of seeking recognition in Florida, for example, a Florida court would certainly have authority to grant relief under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b). But in this case, Tet-tamanti and Calvo are attempting to re-raise issues (alleged payments to another entity for the account of Opción, for example) resolved adversely to them by the court in Argentina. Any attempt to vacate the findings on those points on the basis of alleged fraud should be directed to that court, not the Florida court.
Finally, Tettamanti and Calvo’s third argument — that the domesticated judgment should have been denominated in Argentine pesos rather than U.S. dollars — has already been adjudicated and rejected by this Court in the prior appeals. It is undisputed that the original indebtedness was incurred in U.S. dollars. The loan agreement required repayment in that currency. The Argentine judgment converted the debt from $236,900 to 236,-900 Argentine pesos because the then-prevailing and applicable conversion rate was one to one, as set forth in the Argentine judgment. In converting the recognized judgment into a Florida judgment, the circuit court properly restored the judgment debt to its original currency.
Tettamanti and Calvo have not raised any new argument or provided any definitive ruling by the Argentine court that precludes continued recognition and enforcement of the 2007 judgment in Florida. The Florida court is not a replacement or alternative forum for all post-judgment matters. In this case, proceedings to alter, amend, or vacate the judgment should be determined in the underlying case in Argentina.
Affirmed.
. Tettamanti v. Opcion Sociedad Anonima, 23 So.3d 727 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009).
. Tettamanti v. Opcion Sociedad Anonima, — So.3d - , 2009 WL 1212156 (Fla. 3d DCA 2009).
. § 55.602(2), Fla. Stat. (2008).
. § 55.603, Fla. Stat. (2008).
. Such grounds include, for example: a foreign court's failure to provide impartial tribunals or due process; a lack of jurisdiction over the subject matter; fraud; and a judgment based on an underlying cause of action repugnant to the public policy of Florida.
. In the present case, Tettamanti and Calvo also moved for an "interjudicial conference” by requesting leave to bring the presiding
.A stay in Argentina pending an appeal of the existing judgment there is addressed by section 55.607 of the Recognition Act; that provision does not address a stay based on other considerations, such as a judicially-directed prior recourse to designated collateral before other execution is attempted.
. Nahar v. Nahar, 656 So.2d 225, 229 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995).
. As a practical matter, conversion of a foreign (international) judgment into U.S. dollars is appropriate. Collection in Florida through garnishment, execution, or other remedies is far more difficult when the garnishee or sheriff is asked to engage in currency conversions. Again, the court which entered the underlying judgment retains ultimate control to limit the total sum collected by the judgment creditor — in any and all countries in which collection occurs and net proceeds are applied to the original foreign judgment at the then-prevailing rates of exchange — to the judgment debt plus any applicable accruals or additions.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.