## Facts

- Competex, S.A. obtained an English High Court money judgment against Ronald LaBow for £187,929.82, which LaBow did not pay.
- Competex filed a diversity action in the Southern District of New York to enforce the English judgment.
- The district court recognized the English judgment and entered a U.S. money judgment in a fixed dollar amount, converting the pounds to dollars under New York’s “breach-day rule” using the exchange rate on the date of the English judgment.
- LaBow’s appeal from the enforcement judgment was dismissed, leaving the U.S. dollar judgment final and unsatisfied.
- In later enforcement proceedings, LaBow argued he could satisfy the U.S. judgment by paying only the original English judgment amount in pounds sterling, relying chiefly on *In re James*.
- The district court rejected LaBow’s position, holding the operative obligation was the final U.S. dollar judgment and that *In re James* did not give a debtor a post-judgment right to choose payment currency.
- LaBow appealed the post-judgment ruling.

## Issues

1. Whether a judgment debtor may, as a matter of law, satisfy a final U.S. dollar judgment enforcing a pound-denominated foreign judgment by tendering only the original foreign-currency amount.
2. Whether New York law, including the breach-day conversion rule and *In re James*, permits discharge of a domestic dollar judgment through post-judgment tender of foreign currency.
3. Whether a foreign judgment, once reduced to a domestic money judgment in dollars, becomes an independent judgment debt enforceable according to its dollar terms.

## Decision

- The Second Circuit affirmed the district court’s post-judgment enforcement ruling.
- The court held that, after conversion and entry of a domestic U.S. money judgment in dollars, the debtor’s obligation is to pay the specified dollar amount.
- The court rejected LaBow’s reliance on *In re James*, concluding it did not support a debtor’s unilateral right to discharge a domestic dollar judgment by tendering the original foreign-currency amount.
- The court noted LaBow had not made a sufficient foreign-currency tender before entry of the domestic judgment and could not reopen currency-of-payment after the judgment became final.

## Legal Principles

- When a foreign-currency judgment is recognized and reduced to a domestic money judgment in New York using the breach-day conversion rule, the resulting judgment is a fixed, dollar-denominated obligation.
- A judgment debtor has no post-judgment right to satisfy a domestic dollar judgment by tendering only the original amount of the foreign-currency judgment.
- *In re James* does not create a debtor-side option to choose the currency of satisfaction after entry of a domestic judgment; it does not diminish the enforceability of a final U.S. dollar judgment according to its terms.
- Finality of a domestic judgment limits later attempts to alter the mode of satisfaction based on exchange-rate movements.

## Conclusion

Because the foreign judgment had been converted into and merged into a final domestic U.S. judgment in a fixed dollar amount, LaBow was required to satisfy that dollar judgment as entered and could not discharge it by paying only the original pound amount of the English judgment.


Competex, S.A. v. LaBow, 783 F.2d 333 (2d Cir. 1986)