Lebanon - Enforcement of Money Judgments

The Lebanese government and courts are generally receptive with respect to the enforcement of foreign money judgments provided certain legislative provisions are satisfied. Courts in Lebanon will generally enforce a foreign judgment whenever the conditions of Article 1014 of the New Code of Civil Procedure are met. The foreign judgment must be issued by a competent court, the foreign judgment must be final, the defendant’s rights of defense must have been honored, the content of the foreign judgment must not be against public policy and the judgment rendered in the name of a state which will enforce a Lebanese judgment. This last condition is known as the condition of reciprocity.

Lebanese courts will, however, look into the merits of the foreign judgment when the law of the issuing country requires the revision of Lebanese judgments before granting them exequatur.

B. Briefly describe recent illustrative attempts, whether successful or unsuccessful, to enforce a foreign money judgment in your country, particularly with regard to enforcement of any judgments from United States courts.

We are not aware of recent attempts to enforce a money judgment from a United States court. However, several judgments from United States courts in family matters including inheritance and alimony have been successfully enforced in Lebanon.

The following are illustrative attempts to enforce a foreign money judgment:

"A relatively recent decision by the Supreme Court, number 185/2006, dated October 31, 2006 ruled in favor of a previous decision by the Court of Appeal granting enforcement of a money judgment issued by a Qatari court. The plaintiff, a Qatari sheikh, had obtained from the court of first instance in Qatar a judgment against the defendant ordering the latter to pay the sum of 250,000 Qatari Riyal. The plaintiff unsuccessfully claimed that his defense rights were not honored and that Lebanese law and not Qatari law applied to the contract.