Opinion ID: 1163307
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: Article IV, Section 1 of the United States Constitution provides, Full Faith and Credit shall be given in each State to the Public Acts, Records and Judicial Proceedings of every other State. Nevertheless, Smith contends that his Wisconsin convictions cannot be the basis for a Utah disciplinary action because the Wisconsin court lacked jurisdiction and denied him his right to counsel, thus rendering the convictions void and of no effect in Utah. It is true that a foreign judgment rendered without jurisdiction over the defendant or under circumstances which amount to a lack of due process is not entitled to full faith and credit in Utah. Holm v. Smilowitz, 840 P.2d 157, 164 (Utah.Ct.App.1992) (citing Data Management Sys., Inc. v. EDP Corp., 709 P.2d 377, 379 (Utah 1985)). It is equally true, however, that although our Court may inquire into the jurisdictional basis of a foreign judgment, a determination by the rendering state on the issue of jurisdiction is res judicata when that issue is fully and fairly litigated there. Id. at 379 (citing Underwriters Nat'l Assurance Co. v. North Carolina Life & Accident & Health Ins. Guar. Ass'n, 455 U.S. 691, 705-06, 102 S.Ct. 1357, 1366-67, 71 L.Ed.2d 558 (1982); Durfee v. Duke, 375 U.S. 106, 111-13, 84 S.Ct. 242, 244-46, 11 L.Ed.2d 186 (1963); Clarkson v. Western Heritage, 627 P.2d 72, 74 (Utah 1981)). Smith asserts that the temporarily appointed judge in the Wisconsin circuit court where he was charged and convicted sat as a magistrate only and therefore lacked authority to appoint the two assistant attorneys general who brought the charges. Consequently, he argues, the court lacked jurisdiction over him. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals rejected Smith's argument. He then raised the issue to the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which denied certiorari, and to the federal district court in a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, which the court denied on the merits. We stated in Harris v. Briggs, 621 P.2d 1244 (Utah 1980), that if the same issue as to jurisdiction was raised in the foreign court `and adjudicated therein, then the determination of that issue becomes res judicata, and is entitled to full faith and credit, the same as any other issue that has been so determined.' Id. at 1246 (quoting Fullenwider Co. v. Patterson, 611 P.2d 387, 389 (Utah 1980)). The jurisdictional issue has been fully litigated in the Wisconsin courts, and we will not reopen it here. As the United States Supreme Court emphasized in Durfee, [T]here emerges the general rule that a judgment is entitled to full faith and credit  even as to questions of jurisdiction  when the second court's inquiry discloses that those questions have been fully and fairly litigated and finally decided in the court which rendered the original judgment. 375 U.S. at 111, 84 S.Ct. at 245; see also Sherrer v. Sherrer, 334 U.S. 343, 348, 68 S.Ct. 1087, 1089, 92 L.Ed. 1429 (1948) (It is clear that respondent was afforded his day in court with respect to every issue involved in the litigation, including the jurisdictional issue of petitioner's domicile. Under such circumstances, there is nothing in the concept of due process which demands that a defendant be afforded a second opportunity to litigate the existence of jurisdictional facts.). Smith now cites a subsequent Wisconsin case, State v. Braun, 152 Wis.2d 500, 449 N.W.2d 851 (Wis.Ct.App.1989), in which the court voided a conviction because a properly appointed special prosecutor acted beyond the scope of his appointment. He seeks retroactive application of Braun, which arose after Smith's 1988 appeal but before the federal court's 1992 habeas decision. Braun constitutes the principal grounds for Smith's motion for postconviction relief with the Oneida County Wisconsin Circuit Court. In Strong v. Turner, 22 Utah 2d 294, 297, 452 P.2d 323, 325 (1969), we declined to adjudicate the plaintiff's detainer which was pending in Kansas, stating that if it should prove that there is a genuine issue with respect to this matter, it must be determined by the courts of the State of Kansas, as we give full faith and credit to its judgment. Likewise, we defer to the Wisconsin courts to determine the retroactive application of Wisconsin's own case law to Smith's prior convictions there. At this time, however, having no reason to expect a resolution in Wisconsin different from the five determinations already made there, we will proceed to the merits of this case.