De Fontbrune v. Wofsy, No. 14-15790 (9th Cir. 2016)
Annotate this CaseThis dispute stems from plaintiff's attempt to protect his copyright in photographs of Pablo Picasso's artworks after an American art editor (Wofsy) reproduced the photographic images. Plaintiff received a judgment in French court of two million euros in "astreinte" against Wofsy. Plaintiff then sought to enforce the judgment in federal court in California under the California Uniform Foreign-Court Monetary Judgment Recognition Act, Cal. Civ. Proc. Code 1713 et seq. The court held that Fed. R. Civ. P. 44.1 authorizes district courts to consider foreign legal materials outside the pleadings in ruling on a motion to dismiss because Rule 44.1 treats foreign law determinations as questions of law, not fact. In this case, the district court did not err in considering expert declarations on the content of French law in ruling on Wofsy’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion. The court concluded that the district court erred in concluding that “the award of an astreinte in this case constitutes a penalty for purposes of the [Uniform Recognition Act].” The court held that the astreinte awarded by the French courts to plaintiff falls within the Uniform Recognition Act as a judgment that “[g]rants . . . a sum of money.” In this case, the astreinte was not a “fine or other penalty” for purposes of the Act, and accordingly the district court erred in concluding otherwise. Therefore, the court reversed and remanded.
Court Description: Foreign Law. The panel reversed the district court’s Fed. R. Civ. P. 12(b)(6) dismissal of Yves Sicre de Fontbrune’s action seeking to protect his copyright in photographs of Pablo Picasso’s artworks, and to enforce a French judgment of two million euros in astreinte in federal court against American art editor Alan Wofsy under the California Uniform Foreign- Court Monetary Judgment Recognition Act; and remanded. California’s Uniform Recognition Act governs the enforcement of foreign-country judgments that (1) grant or deny monetary recovery and (2) are “final, conclusive, and enforceable” under the law of the jurisdiction where rendered. Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1715(a). The panel held that Fed. R. Civ. P. 44.1 authorizes district courts to consider foreign legal materials – including expert testimony and declarations – outside the pleadings in rulings DE FONTBRUNE V. WOFSY 3 on a motion to dismiss because Rule 44.1 treats foreign law determinations as questions of law, not fact. The panel concluded that the district court did not err in considering expert declarations on the content of French law in ruling on Wofsy’s Rule 12(b)(6) motion. The panel held that the district court erred in concluding that the award of an astreinte in this case constituted a “fine or other penalty” for the purposes of California’s Uniform Recognition Act. The panel further held that the astreinte was awarded in the context of a civil action in order to enforce a civil remedy provided for in the French Intellectual Property Code, and no criminal or penal proceedings were involved. The panel concluded that the astreinte awarded by the French court to de Fontbrune fell within the Uniform Recognition Act as a judgment that granted a sum of money.
Some case metadata and case summaries were written with the help of AI, which can produce inaccuracies. You should read the full case before relying on it for legal research purposes.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.