Conquistador Hotel Corp. v. Fortino

Decision Date23 September 1980
Docket NumberNo. 79-1989,79-1989
Citation99 Wis.2d 16,298 N.W.2d 236
PartiesCONQUISTADOR HOTEL CORPORATION, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Phil FORTINO, Defendant-Appellant.
CourtWisconsin Court of Appeals

Robert C. Kunda, Brookfield, on brief, for defendant-appellant.

Burke & Schoetz, Milwaukee, on brief and Willard G. Neary, Milwaukee, of counsel, for plaintiff-respondent.

Before DECKER, C. J., MOSER, P. J., and CANNON, J.

DECKER, Chief Judge.

This case raises the question of whether the state of Wisconsin should accord full faith and credit to a foreign judgment rendered in a commonwealth of the United States enforcing a gambling debt. The trial court ordered that the plaintiff be allowed to enforce the judgment in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court, and we affirm.

Defendant spent three or four days at the Conquistador Hotel in Puerto Rico, and gambled at the hotel using the "marker system." He wrote a personal check to cover the markers, but stopped payment on the check after he returned home.

Plaintiff commenced an action against defendant on February 20, 1976, in the District Court of Puerto Rico, San Juan Section, for collection of the gambling debt. Plaintiff was served by mail pursuant to Rule 4.7 of the Puerto Rico Rules of Civil Procedure. A return receipt was signed on behalf of defendant on March 8, 1976. 1 Defendant never responded to the summons, and on May 24, 1976, after a hearing in open court, a default judgment was rendered against defendant by the Puerto Rican court. For purposes of this appeal, defendant correctly assumes that the gambling debt is valid and enforceable in Puerto Rico. See Intercontinental Hotels Corp. v. Golden, 15 N.Y.2d 9, 13, 203 N.E.2d 210, 212, 254 N.Y.S.2d 527, 529 (N.Y.1964) (citing United Hotels v. Willig, 89 P.R.R. 185 (1963)); P.R.Laws Ann. tit. 15, § 71; P.R.Laws Ann. tit. 31, § 4774.

On August 8, 1979, the judgment of the Puerto Rican court was filed and entered pursuant to sec. 806.24, 2 Stats., in the Milwaukee County Circuit Court. After oral argument and the filing of affidavits and a brief, enforcement of the judgment in the Milwaukee court was ordered by the trial court on November 27, 1979.

U.S.Const., art. IV, sec. 1 states: "Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. And the Congress may by general laws prescribe the manner in which such acts, records and proceedings shall be proved, and the effect thereof."

Our supreme court has stated:

The purpose of the full-faith-and-credit clause is "to establish throughout the federal system the salutary principle of the common law that a litigation once pursued to judgment shall be as conclusive of the rights of the parties in every other court as in that in which the judgment was rendered, so that a cause of action merged in a judgment in one state is likewise merged in every other." Anderson v. Anderson, 36 Wis.2d 455, 463, 153 N.W.2d 627, 631 (1967) (quoting Magnolia Petroleum Co. v. Hunt, 320 U.S. 430, 439, 64 S.Ct. 208, 213, 88 L.Ed. 149 (1943)).

Numerous other courts have held that:

Judgments of the courts of the territories and dependencies of the United States, when properly authenticated, stand on the same footing as those of the courts of a state; are conclusive, and equally entitled to full faith and credit in all courts within the United States whether state or federal. See Greenhouse v. Hargrave, Okl., 509 P.2d 1360, 1362 (1973) and cases cited therein.

Similarly, 28 U.S.C. § 1738 provides in part:

The records and judicial proceedings of any court of any such State, Territory, or Possession, or copies thereof, shall be proved or admitted in other courts within the United States and its Territories and Possessions by the attestation of the clerk and seal of the court annexed, if a seal exists, together with a certificate of a judge of the court that the said attestation is in proper form. 3

Such Acts, records, and judicial proceedings, or copies thereof, so authenticated, shall have the same full faith and credit in every court within the United States and its Territories and Possessions as they have by law or usage in the courts of such State, Territory, or Possession from which they are taken. (Emphasis added.)

We hold that judgments of the courts of the territories and possessions of the United States are as equally entitled to full faith and credit in the courts of Wisconsin as are judgments of foreign states.

Defendant argues that any foreign judgment enforcing gambling debts is not entitled to full faith and credit in Wisconsin courts because of Wisconsin's strong public policy against the enforcement of gambling debts in Wisconsin courts, and cites Bartlett v. Collins, 109 Wis. 477, 85 N.W. 703 (1901) and sec. 895.055, Stats. Because the debt underlying the foreign judgment in this case could not be enforced in an original action in the courts of this state, defendant reasons that Wisconsin courts should not be used to enforce a judgment based on the debt.

The question here is one of federal constitutional law, and we adopt § 117 of the Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws (1971), as applicable to foreign judgments of states or territories and possessions of the United States:

§ 117. Original Claim Contrary to Public Policy of State Where Enforcement of Judgment is Sought

A valid judgment rendered in one State of the United States will be recognized and enforced in a sister state even though the strong public policy of the latter State would have precluded recovery in its courts on the original claim.

Comment b. of this section illustrates the general rule:

b. Situation in the United States. As between states of the United States, the rule of this Section is one of constitutional law. Provided that the judgment is valid, full faith and credit requires that it be recognized and enforced in a sister State even though the original claim is contrary to the strong public policy of the sister State. Fauntleroy v. Lum, 210 U.S. 230, 28 S.Ct. 641, 52 L.Ed. 1039 (1908).

Assuming without deciding that the original claim underlying this case is contrary to the strong public policy of...

To continue reading

Request your trial
8 cases
  • In re Jafari
    • United States
    • U.S. Bankruptcy Court — Western District of Wisconsin
    • October 16, 2007
    ...court sitting in diversity, but Nevada judgment on the claim was entitled to full faith and credit); Conquistador Hotel Corp. v. Fortino, 99 Wis.2d 16, 298 N.W.2d 236 (Wis.Ct.App.1980) (judgment on gambling debt from Puerto Rico court must be given full faith and credit in Wisconsin In the ......
  • Four Seasons Gardening & Landscaping, Inc. v. Crouch
    • United States
    • Tennessee Court of Appeals
    • December 19, 1984
    ...237, 28 S.Ct. 641, 643, 52 L.Ed. 1039 (1908); Cannon v. Cannon, 244 Ga. 199, 260 S.E.2d 19, 20 (1979); Conquistador Hotel Corp. v. Fortino, 99 Wis.2d 16, 298 N.W.2d 236, 238 (1980); and Rich v. Con-Stan Industries, 449 S.W.2d 323, 327 (Tex.Civ.App.1969).17 Tenn.Code Ann. Sec. 47-14-123 perm......
  • M & R Investments, Co., Inc. v. Hacker, 86-1950
    • United States
    • Florida District Court of Appeals
    • September 3, 1987
    ...a gambling debt must be enforced, despite a strong local public policy expression disfavoring gambling. See Conquistador Hotel Corp. v. Fortino, 99 Wis.2d 16, 298 N.W.2d 236 (1980); Hilton International Co. v. Arace, 35 Conn.Supp. 522, 394 A.2d 739 (1977). See also FMS Management Systems, I......
  • Holiday Casino, Inc. v. Breedwell
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • May 24, 1991
    ...305 (1987); GNLV Corp. v. Jackson, 736 S.W.2d 893 (Tex.App.1987); In re Smith, 66 B.R. 58 (D.Md.1986); Conquistador Hotel Corp. v. Fortino, 99 Wis.2d 16, 298 N.W.2d 236 (Ct.App.1980); and Hilton Int'l Co. v. Arace, 35 Conn.Supp. 522, 394 A.2d 739 (1977). The holding in Fauntleroy, supra, is......
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT