## Facts

- Ewing Oil, Inc. supplied fuel to John T. Burnett, Inc. (JTB) under a 2009 supply agreement for a New Jersey gasoline station.
- Burnett, another individual, and a related company executed an unconditional guaranty of JTB’s obligations.
- The guaranty contained (1) a Maryland forum-selection/jurisdiction clause and (2) a cognovit (confession-of-judgment) provision authorizing entry of judgment against the guarantors in Maryland without prior notice under stated conditions.
- After an alleged default, Ewing obtained summary judgment against JTB in Maryland and separately obtained a confessed judgment in Maryland against the guarantors.
- Ewing recorded the Maryland confessed judgment in New Jersey as a foreign judgment under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act.
- Burnett died shortly after recordation; his estate, through the executrix, moved in New Jersey to vacate the domesticated judgment under N.J. Ct. R. 4:50-1(d), arguing lack of a valid waiver of notice and New Jersey authority to refuse enforcement.
- The Law Division denied the motion to vacate, and the estate appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether the domesticated Maryland confessed judgment was “void” under N.J. Ct. R. 4:50-1(d) because entry of judgment without pre-judgment notice and an opportunity to be heard violated due process.
2. Whether New Jersey could decline to enforce, or collaterally re-examine, the Maryland judgment based on New Jersey policy disfavoring cognovit judgments and arguments about the forum-selection clause.

## Decision

- The Appellate Division affirmed the denial of the motion to vacate.
- The court held New Jersey was required to give full faith and credit to the Maryland judgment.
- The court concluded the Maryland judgment was not void because Maryland had personal jurisdiction over the guarantor and the cognovit clause reflected a valid waiver of notice and hearing under Maryland law consistent with due process.
- New Jersey public policy disfavoring cognovit judgments did not permit refusal to recognize a sister-state judgment that was jurisdictionally and constitutionally sound.

## Legal Principles

- A sister-state judgment is entitled to full faith and credit in New Jersey; collateral attack is limited primarily to lack of jurisdiction or a fundamental denial of due process in the rendering court.
- A confessed judgment entered pursuant to a cognovit clause may satisfy due process when the debtor/guarantor knowingly and voluntarily waives pre-judgment notice and an opportunity to be heard, and the rendering state’s procedures are followed.
- Disagreement with another state’s substantive practice (including cognovit/confession-of-judgment procedures) does not justify withholding full faith and credit from an otherwise valid sister-state judgment.
- Relief under N.J. Ct. R. 4:50-1(d) requires a void judgment; a domesticated foreign judgment is not void where the rendering court had jurisdiction and the waiver-based procedure did not violate due process.

## Conclusion

The Appellate Division required enforcement of the Maryland confessed judgment against the guarantor’s estate because the guaranty’s confession-of-judgment and Maryland forum provisions established jurisdiction and a valid waiver of notice, leaving no basis under Rule 4:50-1(d) or full faith and credit doctrine to vacate the domesticated judgment in New Jersey.


Ewing Oil, Inc. v. John T. Burnett, Inc., 441 N.J. Super. 251 (App. Div. 2015)