Somportex Limited v. Philadelphia Chewing Gum Corporation
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
453 F.2d 435 (1972)
Somportex (plaintiff) sued Philadelphia Chewing Gum (defendant) in England for breach of contract, serving it in Pennsylvania under England's long-arm statute; when Philadelphia's attorney appeared to challenge service but then tried to withdraw that appearance, the English court deemed it a general appearance waiving any jurisdictional objection, gave Philadelphia additional time to contest service on the merits, and entered a default judgment when Philadelphia took no further action. Somportex sought to enforce that judgment in federal district court in Pennsylvania, which granted enforcement, and Philadelphia appealed, challenging the fairness and jurisdictional basis of the English proceedings.
Whether a U.S. court will give credit and effect to a foreign court's judgment against a defendant if that foreign court possessed jurisdiction and the proceedings were civilized and fair.