Supreme Court of Canada
Dovenmuehle, Inc. v. The Rocca Group Inc., [1982] 2 S.C.R.
534
Date: 1982-10-07
Dovenmuehle, Inc. Appellant;
and
The Rocca Group
Inc. Respondent.
File No.: 16684.
1982: October 7.
Present: Dickson, Beetz, Estey, McIntyre,
Chouinard, Lamer and Wilson JJ.
ON APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL FOR NEW
BRUNSWICK
Judgments and orders—Enforcement of foreign
judgment—Validity of foreign judgment dependant on respondent’s voluntarily
submitting to its jurisdiction—Motion to dismiss for want of jurisdiction only
procedure available in foreign court to a party not submitting to its
jurisdiction—Motion dismissed and default judgment later issued—Whether or not
respondent’s action sufficient to warrant foreign judgment not being
enforced—Foreign Judgments Act, R.S.N.B. 1973, c. F-19, s. 2(c)(ii).
APPEAL from a judgment of the New Brunswick Court of Appeal
(1981), 34 N.B.R. (2d) 444, 85 A.P.R. 444, allowing an appeal from a judgment
of Barry J. allowing appellant’s action to enforce a foreign judgment. Appeal
dismissed.
T.B. Drummie, Q.C. and D.P. Pappas, Q.C.,
for the appellant.
Mark Giberson, for the respondent.
The judgment of the Court was delivered orally
by
DICKSON J.—It will not be necessary to call upon
you Mr. Giberson. We adopt the following passage from the judgment of the
Court of Appeal of New Brunswick at page 439 of the case:
In my opinion, the Act must be interpreted
as would any other New Brunswick statute. Having regard to the plain meaning of the words of
s. 2(c)(ii) of the Act, I think there can be no doubt that, as a matter of
New Brunswick law, the appearance entered and the motion made by counsel for
Rocca in the Illinois Court cannot be said to have been made “without protest”
as contem-
[Page 535]
plated by that section of the. Act,
and that Rocca’s appearance entered in the Illinois Court merely to protest the
jurisdiction of that Court did not amount to its voluntary submission to that
Court’s jurisdiction.
The appeal is accordingly dismissed with costs.
Judgment accordingly.
Solicitors for the appellant: Clark,
Drummie & Company, Saint John.
Solicitors for the respondent: Palmer,
O’Connell, Leger, Turnbull & Turnbull, Saint John.
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