Opinion ID: 2616682
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Domestication Action

Text: The husband argues that the district court erred by granting a summary judgment in favor of the wife in the domestication action because his motion to dismiss, which he based upon the alleged settlement agreement, created a genuine issue of material fact. In reviewing an order which grants a summary judgment: `We examine [the record to determine] whether a genuine issue of material fact exists and whether the prevailing party was entitled to judgment as a matter of law.' Foianini v. Brinton, 855 P.2d 1238, 1240 (Wyo.1993) (quoting Slavens v. Board of County Commissioners for Uinta County, 854 P.2d 683, 685 (Wyo.1993)). The district court did not err in granting a summary judgment for the wife in the domestication action. The husband did not file his motion to dismiss in the domestication action until after the district court had already entered its order which granted a summary judgment in favor of the wife. Also, the husband failed to respond to the wife's motion for a summary judgment within the time provided in Rules 56(c) and 6(c) of the Wyoming Rules of Civil Procedure. [2] The husband did not present the alleged settlement agreement to the district court in a timely fashion.
The husband argues that the Florida judgment was void and unenforceable under W.R.C.P. 60(b)(4) [3] and that the district court erred by granting a summary judgment to the wife. He contends that, because the Florida court violated his due process rights when it granted relief to the wife which she had not requested in any of her pleadings, the Florida judgment was void and was not entitled to be accorded full faith and credit in Wyoming. Under article IV, section 1, of the United States Constitution, the final judgments and public acts of one state must be given full faith and credit in every other state. The United States Supreme Court has held that full faith and credit generally requires every State to give a judgment at least the res judicata effect which the judgment would be accorded in the State which rendered it. A foreign judgment will be enforced to its full extent regardless of any errors or irregularities it may contain. The full faith and credit clause generally protects the judgment of a court of a sister state against collateral attacks, unless proper grounds for the collateral attack can be established. Marworth, Inc. v. McGuire, 810 P.2d 653, 655-56 (Colo.1991) (en banc) (quoting Durfee v. Duke, 375 U.S. 106, 109, 84 S.Ct. 242, 244, 11 L.Ed.2d 186 (1963)) (citations omitted). Wyoming implemented the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution [4] by adopting the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. WYO.STAT. §§ 1-17-701 to -707 (1988). See generally Salmeri v. Salmeri, 554 P.2d 1244 (Wyo.1976). A judgment is void if the rendering court acted in a manner inconsistent with due process [of law]. JW v. State, ex rel. Laramie County Department of Public Assistance and Social Services (In re WM), 778 P.2d 1106, 1110 (Wyo.1989). A judgment which was obtained in violation of due process of law is not entitled to have full faith and credit. 50 C.J.S. Judgments § 889 at 472 (1947). See also World-Wide Volkswagen Corporation v. Woodson, 444 U.S. 286, 291, 100 S.Ct. 559, 564, 62 L.Ed.2d 490 (1980). It is basic that, before a property interest can be terminated, except in emergency situations, due process must be afforded to litigants in the form of notice and a meaningful opportunity to be heard. Lawrence-Allison and Associates West, Inc. v. Archer, 767 P.2d 989, 997 (Wyo.1989) (emphasis in original). The husband presented his argument to the Florida courts that the pleadings did not properly request the relief which had been granted to the wife. The Florida courts decided against him. Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause, a foreign judgment is entitled to be accorded the same validity and effect in a sister state as it would have in the rendering state. Bell Atlantic Tricon Leasing Corporation v. Johnnie's Garbage Service, Inc., 113 N.C.App. 476, 439 S.E.2d 221, 223 (1994). When parties are prohibited from reasserting issues in the rendering state, they are also barred from asserting those issues in a sister state. Cf. Osborn v. Ashland County Board of Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services, 979 F.2d 1131, 1131-35 (6th Cir.1992) (per curiam) (holding that a federal court must not consider a due process issue which had previously been decided by a state court). Under Florida law, the judicial doctrine of collateral estoppel prohibits relitigation of an issue where the parties and issues are identical and where a particular matter has been fully litigated and determined in a prior litigation which has resulted in a final decision in a court of competent jurisdiction. Prudential Insurance Company of America v. Turkal, 528 So.2d 487, 488 (Fla.Dist.Ct.App. 1988) (per curiam). Under this rule, the parties would be barred from relitigating the issue in Florida as to whether the pleadings requested the relief which had been granted to the wife. The husband and the wife were parties in both actions. The issue which the husband asserts in the Wyoming action is exactly the same issue which he presented to the Florida courts, and the Florida district court of appeal, which was a court of competent jurisdiction, entered a final judgment on the issue. The Wyoming district court properly gave full faith and credit to the Florida judgment.
The husband argues that the referral of the hearing to a district court commissioner on his motion to vacate a void judgment denied him the right to have a full hearing and resulted in an improper summary judgment being granted against him. He takes issue with a number of the commissioner's findings. The husband also contends that the transcript of the hearing which was held before the commissioner had not been prepared before the district court ruled on the wife's motion for a summary judgment. No error occurred in the proceedings. The husband was not prejudiced by the commissioner hearing his motion to vacate a void judgment. Article 5, section 14 of the Wyoming Constitution authorizes the Legislature to enact laws which allow district courts to appoint commissioners. The constitutional provision states that the commissioners shall have authority to perform such chamber business in the absence of the district judge from the county. WYO. CONST. ART. 5, § 14. The Legislature has articulated the law which is applicable to commissioners. WYO.STAT. §§ 5-3-301 to -312 (1992 & Supp. 1993). Section 5-3-307(a)(v) sets out the commissioners' powers: (a) Each district court commissioner shall have the powers in respect to every suit or proceeding pending in the district court of the county for which he was appointed, as follows: . . . . . . (v) To take evidence and make findings, and report the same to the district court[.] In Foster v. Foster, 768 P.2d 1038 (Wyo. 1989), and Gaines v. Doby, 773 P.2d 442 (Wyo.1989), appeal after remand, 794 P.2d 566 (Wyo.1990), we clarified the commissioners' powers and duties. We held that the district court must conduct an independent review of the evidence and the commissioner's findings when it is making its decision. Foster, 768 P.2d at 1042; Gaines, 773 P.2d at 444-45. The Court indicated that, in order to conduct its review: We would expect that, in most instances, the district court would require a transcript of the evidentiary hearing. Foster, 768 P.2d at 1042. In both Foster and Gaines, this Court ruled that the procedures which had been employed by the district courts when they reviewed the commissioners' findings were inadequate. Foster, 768 P.2d at 1041; Gaines, 773 P.2d at 445. This case is significantly different from Foster and Gaines. Here, the commissioner specified in his findings which he presented to the district court that the district judge was absent when the hearing was held. The commissioner provided a fairly substantial review to the district court of the parties' arguments. Additionally, the district court considered essentially the same arguments when it ruled on the motion for a summary judgment. The district court's order indicates that, in reaching its decision, the district court reviewed the extensive materials which the husband had submitted. The district court properly examined the evidence and the commissioner's findings in reaching its decision.