## Facts

- Suzanne Gilbey, a Massachusetts resident, retained Manches & Co., a London firm of solicitors, for legal services relating to her father’s English estate; Peter Thornton was also billed.
- Manches performed the work, billed Gilbey and Thornton, and was not paid.
- Manches sued in the Queen’s Bench Division of the High Court of Justice in London; Gilbey and Thornton did not appear.
- The English court entered a default judgment for Manches for £30,138.35 plus interest and costs.
- Manches brought an action in Massachusetts Superior Court to recognize and enforce the English judgment under Massachusetts’ Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act.
- Between the English judgment and the Massachusetts action, the pound declined against the dollar, reducing the judgment’s dollar value if converted at later exchange rates.

## Issues

1. Whether the English default judgment was entitled to recognition and enforcement in Massachusetts under the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act despite alleged jurisdictional and due process defects.
2. If recognized, what exchange-rate rule governs conversion of the pound-denominated judgment into U.S. dollars: breach-day, judgment-day, or payment-day.

## Decision

- The Supreme Judicial Court affirmed recognition and enforcement of the English judgment, rejecting challenges based on jurisdiction and due process.
- The court rejected the breach-day and judgment-day conversion rules for enforcement of a foreign money judgment.
- The court adopted the payment-day rule: the judgment should remain denominated in pounds, and the debtor may satisfy it by paying either the pound amount or the dollar equivalent calculated at the exchange rate on the date of payment.
- The case was remanded for entry of judgment consistent with the payment-day rule.

## Legal Principles

- A foreign country money judgment that is final, conclusive, and enforceable where rendered must be recognized under the Uniform Foreign Money-Judgments Recognition Act unless a statutory ground for nonrecognition (including lack of jurisdiction or denial of due process) is shown.
- A party who retains foreign counsel for work centered in the rendering country and arising from that relationship can supply a sufficient jurisdictional basis for the foreign court in a later fee dispute.
- For enforcement of a foreign money judgment denominated in a foreign currency, Massachusetts applies the payment-day rule, allowing satisfaction in the foreign currency or in dollars at the exchange rate on the date payment is made.
- The payment-day rule allocates exchange-rate fluctuation risk to the judgment debtor, who controls the timing of payment, and avoids converting the obligation into dollars at an arbitrary intermediate date.

## Conclusion

Massachusetts recognized an English default money judgment for unpaid legal fees and held that enforcement should proceed under the payment-day rule, permitting payment in the original currency or in U.S. dollars at the exchange rate prevailing on the date of payment.


Manches & Co. v. Gilbey, 419 Mass. 414, 646 N.E.2d 86 (1995)