KR and C Co Ltd v Soon Ok Hwang (No 3)

In the case of KR and C Co Ltd v Soon Ok Hwang (No 3), the parties were KR and C Co Ltd, the plaintiffs, and Soon Ok Hwang, the defendant. The dispute was centred on the validity of a foreign judgment under Australian law, specifically under the Foreign Judgments Act 1991 (Cth). The matter was heard in the Federal Court of Australia. The plaintiffs sought to register a judgment obtained in South Korea, while the defendant argued against the registration on the basis that she had not been served with the initiating process in the foreign country and had appealed the merits of the case in the South Korean courts.

The primary legal issue the court needed to address was whether the foreign judgment could be registered in Australia. This hinged on whether the defendant had been properly served with the initiating process in South Korea and whether the defendant's appeal in South Korea was an appeal on the merits or a procedural objection. The court also had to consider the requirements of the Foreign Judgments Act and whether the South Korean judgment complied with these provisions.

The court held that the defendant had not been served with the initiating process in South Korea as required by the Act, and that the appeal in South Korea was on the merits rather than a procedural objection. Consequently, the court concluded that the requirements of the Foreign Judgments Act were not satisfied. As a result, the plaintiffs' motion to set aside the judgment was dismissed. The court found that the defendant's lack of service and the nature of the appeal in South Korea meant that the foreign judgment could not be recognised or enforced in Australia. The court's decision was based on a strict interpretation of the statutory provisions and the facts of the case.