Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Laura Drager (See Profile) has refused to enforce a default judgment in a Chinese divorce case because the divorce suit was served through international mail, even though the defendant had actual knowledge of the suit and chose not to answer it.
The divorce case was served by Jainping Huang on his wife, Melissa Bailey-Huang, by international mail delivered to her apartment building in New York, and a Chinese court entered default judgment in Jainping’s favor. Melissa filed a divorce action in New York in which she challenged the Chinese judgment. She has not disputed that she had notice of the Chinese lawsuit and judgment.
