Title 8.5 - UNIFORM FOREIGN-MONEY CLAIMS ACT

California Code of Civil Procedure — §§ 676-676.16

Sections (9)

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

This title shall be known and may be cited as the Uniform Foreign-Money Claims Act.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

As used in this title:

(1)“Action” means a judicial proceeding or arbitration in which a payment in money may be awarded or enforced with respect to a foreign-money claim.
(2)“Bank-offered spot rate” means the spot rate of exchange at which a bank will sell foreign money at a spot rate.
(3)“Conversion date” means the banking day next preceding the date on which money, in accordance with this title, is (i) paid to a claimant in an action or distribution

proceeding, (ii) paid to the official designated by law to enforce a judgment or award on behalf of a claimant, or (iii) used to recoup, setoff, or counterclaim in different moneys in an action or distribution proceeding.

(4)“Distribution proceeding” means a judicial or nonjudicial proceeding for the distribution of a fund in which one or more foreign-money claims is asserted and includes an accounting, an assignment for the benefit of creditors, a foreclosure, the liquidation or rehabilitation of a corporation or other entity, and the distribution of an estate, trust, or other fund.
(5)“Foreign money” means money other than money of the United States of America.
(6)“Foreign-money claim” means a claim upon an obligation to pay, or a claim for recovery of a loss, expressed in or measured by a foreign money.
(7)“Money” means a medium of exchange for the payment of obligations or a store of value authorized or adopted by a government or by intergovernmental agreement.
(8)“Money of the claim” means the money determined as proper pursuant to Section 676.4.
(9)“Person” means an individual, a corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, joint venture, partnership, association, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity.
(10)“Rate of exchange” means the rate at which money of one country may be converted into money of another country in a free financial market convenient to or reasonably usable by a person obligated to pay or to state a rate of conversion. If

separate rates of exchange apply to different kinds of transactions, the term means the rate applicable to the particular transaction giving rise to the foreign-money claim.

(11)“Spot rate” means the rate of exchange at which foreign money is sold by a bank or other dealer in foreign exchange for immediate or next day availability or for settlement by immediate payment in cash or equivalent, by charge to an account, or by an agreed delayed settlement not exceeding two days.
(12)“State” means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or a territory or insular possession subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

(a)If an action is brought to enforce a judgment of another jurisdiction expressed in a foreign money and the judgment is recognized in this state as enforceable, the enforcing judgment shall be entered as provided in Section 676.7, whether or not the foreign judgment confers an option to pay in an equivalent amount of United States dollars.
(b)A foreign judgment may be enforced in accordance with Title 11 (commencing with Section 1710.10) of Part 3.
(c)A satisfaction or partial payment made upon the

foreign judgment, on proof thereof, shall be credited against the amount of foreign money specified in the judgment, notwithstanding the entry of judgment in this state.

(d)A judgment entered on a foreign-money claim only in United States dollars in another state shall be enforced in this state in United States dollars only.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

(a)Computations under this section are for the limited purposes of the section and do not affect computation of the United States dollar equivalent of the money of the judgment for the purpose of payment.
(b)For the limited purpose of facilitating the enforcement of provisional remedies in an action, the value in United States dollars of assets to be seized or restrained pursuant to a writ of attachment, garnishment, execution, or other legal process, the amount of United States dollars at issue for assessing costs, or the amount of United States dollars involved for

a surety bond or other court-required undertaking, shall be ascertained as provided in subdivisions (c) and (d).

(c)A party seeking process, costs, bond, or other undertaking under subdivision (b) shall compute in United States dollars the amount of the foreign money claimed from a bank-offered spot rate prevailing at or near the close of business on the banking day next preceding the filing of a request or application for the issuance of process or for the determination of costs, or an application for a bond or other court-required undertaking.
(d)A party seeking the process, costs, bond, or other undertaking under subdivision (b) shall file with each request or application an affidavit or certificate executed in good faith by its counsel or a bank officer, stating the market quotation used and how it was obtained, and setting forth the calculation. Affected court officials

incur no liability, after a filing of the affidavit or certificate, for acting as if the judgment were in the amount of United States dollars stated in the affidavit or certificate.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

(a)If, after an obligation is expressed or a loss is incurred in a foreign money, the country issuing or adopting that money substitutes a new money in place of that money, the obligation or the loss is treated as if expressed or incurred in the new money at the rate of conversion the issuing country establishes for the payment of like obligations or losses denominated in the former money.
(b)If substitution under subdivision (a) occurs after a judgment or award is entered on a foreign-money claim, the court or arbitrator shall amend the judgment or award by a like

conversion of the former money.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

Unless displaced by particular provisions of this title, the principles of law and equity, including the law merchant, and the law relative to capacity to contract, principal and agent, estoppel, fraud, misrepresentation, duress, coercion, mistake, bankruptcy, or other validating or invalidating causes supplement its provisions.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

This title shall be applied and construed to effectuate its general purpose to make uniform the law with respect to the subject of this title among states enacting it.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

If any provision of this title or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity does not affect other provisions or applications of this title which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to this end the provisions of this title are severable.

Added by Stats. 1991, Ch. 932, Sec. 1.

This title applies to actions and distribution proceedings commenced on or after January 1, 1992.