Capital Partners Network OT, Inc. v. TNG Contractors, LLC, Et Al.

Defendants appeal the trial court’s grant of summary judgment to the plaintiff corporation, the effect of which was to accord full faith and credit to a New York judgment based on a confession of judgment, or cognovit note. Defendants argue that the foreign judgment should not be enrolled in Tennessee because it is contrary to public policy, based on Tennessee Code Annotated section 25-2-101(a), which prohibits the use of prelitigation confessions of judgment and declares void any judgment based upon such a device. After reviewing the record and case law, we hold that the Constitution’s full faith and credit mandate requires enrollment of the foreign judgment so long as Defendants validly waived their due process rights. Accordingly, we affirm.