Naoko Ohno v. Yuko Yasuma , 723 F.3d 984 ( 2013 )


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  •                 FOR PUBLICATION
    UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
    FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT
    NAOKO OHNO , an individual,                No. 11-55081
    Plaintiff-Appellee,
    D.C. No.
    v.                        2:10-cv-06400-
    ODW-PJW
    YUKO YASUMA , an individual;
    SAINTS OF GLORY CHURCH , a
    California corporation,                      OPINION
    Defendants-Appellants.
    Appeal from the United States District Court
    for the Central District of California
    Otis D. Wright, District Judge, Presiding
    Argued and Submitted
    May 9, 2012—Pasadena, California
    Filed July 2, 2013
    Before: Harry Pregerson, Susan P. Graber,
    and Marsha S. Berzon, Circuit Judges.
    Opinion by Judge Berzon
    2                        OHNO V . YASUMA
    SUMMARY*
    Diversity/California’s Uniform Foreign-Country Money
    Judgments Recognition Act
    The panel affirmed the district court’s judgment in favor
    of plaintiff awarding her, pursuant to California’s Uniform
    Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition Act, Cal.
    Civ. Proc. Code §§ 1713–1724, monetary relief ordered by
    the courts of Japan.
    Plaintiff sued Yuko Yasuma and the Saints of Glory
    Church (collectively, “the Church”) in Japan, alleging that
    they had tortiously induced her to transfer nearly all of her
    assets to the Church. The Japanese courts awarded plaintiff
    a $1.2 million tort judgment. Plaintiff sought enforcement of
    the judgment in the United States District Court for the
    Central District of California. The Church asserted that the
    district court was both constitutionally and statutorily
    required to refuse recognition of the Japanese judgment
    because (1) the judgment burdened free exercise of religion
    in violation of the Religion Clauses; and (2) the judgment was
    not entitled to recognition or enforcement under the Uniform
    Act, because it was “repugnant to the public policy”
    embodied in the Religion Clauses.
    The panel held: first, the district court’s enforcement of
    this foreign-country money judgment did not constitute
    domestic state action triggering constitutional scrutiny; and,
    second, neither the judgment at issue in this particular case
    *
    This summary constitutes no part of the opinion of the court. It has
    been prepared by court staff for the convenience of the reader.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                         3
    nor the cause of action on which it was based was so
    repugnant to public policy as to qualify for non-enforcement
    under the Uniform Act.
    COUNSEL
    Steven J. Renick (argued), Eugene J. Egan, Paul Hanna, and
    Ladell Hulet Muhlestein, Manning & Kass Ellrod, Ramirez,
    Trester, Los Angeles, California, for Defendants-Appellants.
    Robert W. Cohen (argued) and Mariko Taenaka, Law Offices
    of Robert W. Cohen, Los Angeles, California, for Plaintiff-
    Appellee.
    OPINION
    BERZON, Circuit Judge:
    Our case involves novel issues concerning the
    enforcement of foreign-country money judgments that
    assertedly implicate the defendant’s freedom of religion.
    Naoko Ohno sued Yuko Yasuma and the Saints of Glory
    Church (collectively, “the Church”) in Japan, alleging that
    they had tortiously induced her to transfer nearly all of her
    assets to the Church. The Japanese courts awarded Ohno a
    $1.2 million tort judgment.
    The Church contends that the judgment imposes liability
    for its religious teachings, in violation of its constitutional
    4                         OHNO V . YASUMA
    right to free exercise of religion.1 The Church makes two
    principal arguments on appeal: (1) that the district court’s
    recognition and enforcement2 of the Japanese judgment is
    unconstitutional as a direct violation, by the court, of the Free
    Exercise Clause in the U.S. Constitution and the parallel
    provisions of the California Constitution, U.S. Const. amend.
    I; Cal. Const. art. I, § 4;3 and (2) that the Japanese judgment
    1
    Although the Church raises both free speech and free exercise claims,
    the speech at issue was either religious in content or, allegedly, motivated
    by religious beliefs. W hile “private religious speech . . . is as fully
    protected under the Free Speech Clause as secular private expression . . .
    [it] receives preferential treatment under the Free Exercise Clause.”
    Capitol Square Review & Advisory Bd. v. Pinette, 
    515 U.S. 753
    , 760, 767
    (1995). Because the right to religious freedom affords a higher degree of
    protection than would the Free Speech Clause in this case, we analyze the
    Church’s claims under the Free Exercise Clause of the U.S. Constitution
    and corresponding provisions of the California Constitution, Article I,
    Section 4, not separately under the free speech provisions.
    2
    The terms “recognition” and “enforcement” are distinct. See
    Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law § 481 cmt. b (1987).
    Recognition of a judgment is a prerequisite to its enforcement. In
    recognizing a judgment, a court acknowledges that a matter has been
    conclusively adjudicated and that the judgment may have preclusive
    effect. In enforcing a judgment, a court “uses its coercive powers to order
    the relief granted by the foreign court.” Office of the Chief Counsel for
    International Commerce, U.S. Dep’t of Commerce, Recognition and
    Enforcement of Foreign Money Judgments http://www.osec.doc.gov/ogc/
    occic/refmj.htm (last visited May 29, 2013). As the distinction between
    the two concepts is not pertinent for the purposes of this opinion, we use
    the terms recognition and enforcement interchangeably to denote the
    district court’s decision to enter judgment in favor of Ohno, awarding her
    the monetary relief ordered by the courts of Japan.
    3
    T hroughout this opinion, we refer to the Free Exercise Clause of the
    U.S. Constitution and the corresponding protections of religious freedom
    in the California Constitution as “the Religion Clauses.”
    OHNO V . YASUMA                         5
    is not entitled to recognition or enforcement under
    California’s Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments
    Recognition Act, Cal. Civ. Proc. Code §§ 1713–1724
    (“Uniform Act”), because it is “repugnant to the public
    policy” embodied in the Religion Clauses.
    We hold, first, that the district court’s recognition and
    enforcement of the Japanese money judgment does not
    constitute “state action” triggering direct constitutional
    scrutiny and, second, that neither the Japanese judgment nor
    the cause of action on which it was based rises to the level of
    repugnance to the public policy of California or of the United
    States that would justify a refusal to enforce the judgment
    under the Uniform Act. Accordingly, we affirm the district
    court’s judgment in Ohno’s favor.
    I. BACKGROUND
    A. Facts and Procedural History
    Ohno, a citizen of Japan, sued the Church in Tokyo
    District Court. She received a favorable judgment, upheld on
    appeal to Tokyo’s High Court. Ohno then initiated an action
    for recognition and enforcement of the judgment in the
    United States District Court for the Central District of
    California, as Yasuma is a resident of Los Angeles and the
    Saints of Glory Church (“Saints of Glory”) is a registered
    California religious corporation.
    i. The Japanese Litigation
    The following facts are summarized from the findings of
    the Tokyo trial court, as set forth in its judgment of August
    28, 2009:
    6                        OHNO V . YASUMA
    Ohno joined Saints of Glory in 1994 while working in
    London.      Three years later, Ohno began regularly
    participating in prayer meetings, bible study, and worship at
    a branch of Saints of Glory in Tokyo. Part of the Church’s
    program in Tokyo was playing for worshipers there tape
    recordings of sermons given every Sunday in California by
    Saints of Glory’s principal pastor, Yasuma. Ohno listened to
    the tapes while attending church in Tokyo. Saints of Glory
    preached obedience to Jesus Christ and to Yasuma. Members
    were required to tithe one-tenth of their incomes, which Ohno
    did.4
    Ohno was obedient to Yasuma’s advice and teachings in
    various areas of her life. For example, when Ohno learned
    that her father was terminally ill, Yasuma “stated something
    negative about [Ohno] going to see her father,” so Ohno did
    not return home to see him before he died and did not attend
    his funeral. Later, after Ohno informed Yasuma that she had
    lost her job, the Church convinced Ohno to live with another
    “church member in the same situation,” in what we infer from
    the record was a Church-owned or Church-affiliated
    residence in Tokyo. Also, after Yasuma repeatedly made
    negative statements about medications, Ohno ceased taking
    the anti-depressants and tranquilizers she had been prescribed
    when she was diagnosed with depression years earlier. At
    Yasuma’s instruction, Ohno purchased Saints of Glory videos
    and books, which she began watching and reading repeatedly.
    Finally, the Church told Ohno not to purchase her own
    4
    In the Japanese lawsuit, Ohno did not contest the voluntariness or seek
    restitution of these routine tithes. She challenged only the substantial
    transfers of money that she made to the Church between January and
    March 2002, referred to in this opinion as “the Transfers.”
    OHNO V . YASUMA                          7
    apartment when she tried to do so, and admonished her for
    negotiating a reduction in her rent.
    Following all these events, and while suffering from both
    depression and general ataxia (a lack of muscle coordination
    due to damage to the nervous system), Ohno “became
    obsessed with a sense of guilt that she had not obeyed Jesus
    Christ.” After Yasuma encouraged Ohno to make “givings”
    in late 2001, Ohno gave Yasuma and another church minister
    each 800,000 Yen.5 Then, on January 2, 2002, Yasuma “took
    several hours to talk to [Ohno], in a talk referred to as
    ‘“Warnings” [or “Reprimands”], pressuring her to tithe’”
    (alteration in original). After the talk, Ohno felt “overcome
    with terror and compelled to tithe.” Over the span of two
    months, Ohno closed her savings account and transferred
    68,678,424 Yen to Saints of Glory, virtually all of Ohno’s
    assets at that time.
    A year after these transfers (“the Transfers”), Ohno was
    told she would be “driven out” of Saints of Glory because she
    “had not been obedient to Jesus Christ.” The following May,
    the Church ordered her to leave the apartment where she was
    living. On the advice of her psychiatrist, Ohno then resumed
    taking medications for her depression. She also began
    participating in religious services at a different church.
    Ohno eventually came to believe that she had been
    defrauded by the Church. She filed a complaint in 2007 in
    Tokyo District Court, asserting tort and unjust enrichment
    claims against Yasuma, Saints of Glory, and two other
    individual defendants not parties to the present enforcement
    action. The dispute centered on the circumstances in which
    5
    Ohno did not contest or seek restitution of these donations.
    8                    OHNO V . YASUMA
    Ohno had transferred the approximately $500,000 to Saints
    of Glory between January and March 2002, leaving her
    essentially destitute. Ohno contended that the Transfers took
    place as a result of the Church’s “fraudulent and threatening
    statements” to her while she was in a vulnerable mental and
    physical state. The Church argued that the contested
    Transfers were faith-based donations, and that Ohno sought
    return of the money because she no longer believed in the
    Church’s teachings.
    The litigation in Japan lasted over two years and involved
    several hearings, various filings, and a full merits trial, in
    which Yasuma and Saints of Glory appeared through counsel.
    The Tokyo District Court’s judgment held Yasuma and Saints
    of Glory liable under Japanese Civil Code articles 709, 719,
    and 715, for illegally inducing Ohno to tithe “in such a way
    as to incite anxiety and cause terror to the Plaintiff who was
    already in [a] state of depression and was suffering from
    general ataxia.” The Tokyo trial court concluded that Ohno’s
    decision to give the Transfers “under such psychological
    condition” could not be said to have been made of her own
    free will, and awarded damages, including restitution of the
    68,678,424 Yen Ohno had given to Saints of Glory in the
    disputed Transfers; 3,000,000 Yen for pain and suffering; and
    7,200,000 Yen for attorney’s fees. The total award was
    78,878,424 Yen ($843,235.66).
    As to the grounds for the judgment, article 709 of the
    Japanese Civil Code, entitled “Damages in Torts,” provides:
    “A person who has intentionally or negligently infringe[d]
    any right of others, or legally protected interest of others,
    shall be liable to compensate any damages resulting in
    consequence.” Minpô [Civ. C.] art. 709. Article 719
    provides for joint and several liability of joint tortfeasors,
    OHNO V . YASUMA                         9
    Minpô [Civ. C.] art. 719, and article 715 provides for an
    employer’s liability for the tortious actions of its employees,
    Minpô [Civ. C.] art. 715. The Japanese trial court did not
    specify precisely which right or legally protected interest the
    Church infringed; it stated only that the solicitation of
    donations from Ohno was illegal because it exceeded “the
    scope of what is socially appropriate.”
    Defendants appealed the judgment to the Tokyo High
    Court, which affirmed the lower court decision on all counts
    and dismissed the appeal.
    ii. The Enforcement Action in Federal Court
    Ohno next brought an international diversity action in the
    United States District Court for the Central District of
    California, seeking enforcement of the Japanese judgment
    against Yasuma and Saints of Glory under California’s
    Uniform Act, Cal. Civ. Proc. Code §§ 1713–1724. In
    opposition to Ohno’s motion for summary judgment, the
    Church argued that the Religion Clauses bar recovery in tort
    for the consequences of protected religious speech, including
    threats of divine retribution, and prohibit a court from judging
    the validity of the Church’s religious teachings. The Japanese
    judgment, the Church argued, was inconsistent with these
    principles. The Church further asserted that the Japanese
    judgment is not entitled to recognition, both because it is
    “repugnant” to public policy embodied in the Religion
    Clauses and because it “was obtained through procedures not
    compatible with the requirements of due process of law.” In
    the alternative, the Church requested that the motion for
    summary judgment be continued to permit additional
    discovery relating to the Japanese proceedings.
    10                        OHNO V . YASUMA
    The district court granted summary judgment in favor of
    Ohno and entered judgment jointly and severally against
    Yasuma and Saints of Glory, holding the Japanese judgment
    not repugnant to the Religion Clauses.6 It also denied the
    Church’s request for a continuance under Federal Rule of
    Civil Procedure 56(f),7 citing the failure to identify with any
    specificity the facts sought through additional discovery and
    why the evidence to be obtained would preclude summary
    judgment. This timely appeal followed.
    On appeal, the Church contends that the district court was
    both constitutionally and statutorily required to refuse
    recognition of the Japanese judgment because the judgment
    burdens free exercise of religion in violation of the Religion
    Clauses. As to the constitutional issue, the Church maintains
    that enforcement in the United States of a foreign-country
    judgment that would be violative of the Religion Clauses if
    issued by a domestic court is itself an exercise of state power,
    directly subject to constitutional constraints. Statutorily, the
    Church argues that a foreign-country judgment that impinges
    on American constitutional rights is necessarily repugnant to
    public policy, making its recognition under California’s
    Uniform Act an abuse of discretion.
    6
    The district court also held that the Japanese judgment was not
    incompatible with due process of law, but the Church has abandoned its
    due process arguments on appeal.
    7
    Former Rule 56(f) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure became
    Rule 56(d) under the 2010 Amendments to the Federal Rules. Because the
    district court decision, the Church’s briefs to this court, and the relevant
    case law in this circuit all refer to the former Rule 56(f), this opinion as
    well so refers to the rule currently codified as Rule 56(d).
    OHNO V . YASUMA                             11
    B. The Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments
    Recognition Act
    In international diversity cases such as this one,
    “enforceability of judgments of courts of other countries is
    generally governed by the law of the state in which
    enforcement is sought.” Yahoo! Inc. v. La Ligue Contre le
    Racisme et L’Antisemitisme, 
    433 F.3d 1199
    , 1212 (9th Cir.
    2006) (en banc) (per curiam) (“Yahoo! II”) (plurality opinion)
    (citing Bank of Montreal v. Kough, 
    612 F.2d 467
    , 469–70
    (9th Cir. 1980)); see also id. at 1239–41 (Fisher, J.,
    concurring in part and dissenting in part). In California, the
    Uniform Act regulates enforcement of the Japanese damages
    award at issue here. See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code §§ 1713–1724.
    The present California foreign judgment enforcement
    statute was enacted in 2007 to replace the Uniform Foreign
    Money Judgments Recognition Act, formerly codified at
    California Civil Procedure Code sections 1713–1713.8, and
    applies to all recognition and enforcement actions
    commenced on or after January 1, 2008. See § 1724(a); see
    also Manco Contracting Co. (W.W.L.) v. Bezdikian, 
    45 Cal. 4th 192
    , 204 (2008). California’s Act was modeled on
    the 2005 Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments
    Recognition Act, 13 U.L.A. pt. II, at 18–38 (Supp. 2011),
    drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on
    Uniform State Laws.8 See Manco Contracting Co., 
    45 Cal. 8
    As of June 2013, nineteen states have enacted the 2005 version of the
    Uniform Act, or some version thereof, and an additional three states
    have introduced bills proposing its enactment. See Foreign-Country
    Money Judgments Recognition Act, Uniform Law Commission, The
    National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws,
    http://uniformlaws.org/Act.aspx?title=Foreign-Country Money Judgments
    Recognition Act (last visited May 25, 2013). T he earlier version of the
    12                         OHNO V . YASUMA
    4th at 198 (describing the background and purpose of the
    Uniform Act); Lyustiger v. Lysustiger (In re Marriage of
    Lyustiger), 
    177 Cal. App. 4th 1367
    , 1369–70 (2009)
    (recounting the history of the Act in California).
    California’s Uniform Act provides that the courts of
    California “shall recognize a foreign-country judgment” for
    money damages that is final, conclusive, and enforceable
    where rendered, except if one or more of the mandatory
    grounds for non-recognition enumerated in § 1716(b), or
    discretionary grounds for non-recognition enumerated in
    § 1716(c), applies.9 § 1716(a). The only exception at issue
    Uniform Act, approved in 1962, was adopted by twenty-nine states plus
    the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. See Cedric C. Chao &
    Christine S. Neuhoff, Enforcement and Recognition of Foreign Judgments
    in United States Courts: A Practical Perspective, 29 Pepp. L. Rev. 147,
    150 (2001). The state law versions of the Uniform Act do not vary
    substantially from state to state. The more significant distinction lies
    between those states that have adopted some version of the Uniform Act
    and those that follow a common law standard stemming from the Supreme
    Court’s decision in Hilton v. Guyot, 
    159 U.S. 113
     (1895). See Chao &
    Neuhoff, 29 Pepp. L. Rev. at 148.
    9
    Section 1716(b) provides in full:
    A court of this state shall not recognize a
    foreign-country judgment if any of the following apply:
    (1) The judgment was rendered under a judicial system
    that does not provide impartial tribunals or procedures
    compatible with the requirements of due process of law.
    (2) The foreign court did not have personal jurisdiction
    over the defendant. (3) The foreign court did not have
    jurisdiction over the subject matter.
    Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1716(b).
    OHNO V . YASUMA                                13
    in this appeal is § 1716(c)(3), which provides that a court is
    “not required to recognize a foreign-country judgment if . . .
    [t]he judgment or the cause of action or claim for relief on
    which the judgment is based is repugnant to the public policy
    of [California] or of the United States.” § 1716(c)(3).
    Under the Uniform Act, the party seeking enforcement of
    a foreign judgment bears the initial burden of establishing
    that the judgment falls within the scope of the Act. § 1715(c).
    The parties here do not dispute that the Japanese judgment
    conforms to the threshold requirements for recognition: it
    grants recovery of a sum of money, as required by
    § 1715(a)(1); it is final, conclusive and enforceable in Japan,
    under § 1715(a)(2); and it is not a judgment for taxes, a fine
    or other penalty, or a judgment in connection with domestic
    relations, barred from recognition under § 1715(b).
    Once coverage under the Uniform Act is established, the
    presumption in favor of enforcement applies, and the party
    resisting recognition of a foreign-country judgment “has the
    burden of establishing that a ground for nonrecognition stated
    in subdivision [§ 1716](b) or (c) exists.” § 1716(d); see also
    Section 1716(c) provides that a court is “not required to recognize a
    foreign-country [money] judgment if” any of the following nine
    discretionary grounds for non-recognition exists: (1) lack of notice to the
    defendant; (2) fraud; (3) repugnancy of the foreign judgment or cause of
    action to public policy; (4) conflict with another final and conclusive
    judgment; (5) contrariness to an agreement between the parties regarding
    the resolution of disputes; (6) inconvenience of the foreign forum; (7)
    doubts about the integrity of the rendering court; (8) incompatibility of the
    judgment with the requirements of due process of law; and (9) a recovery
    under defamation law that provides less protection for freedom of speech
    and the press than is provided under the U.S. and California Constitutions.
    Id.
    14                        OHNO V . YASUMA
    Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Recognition
    Act, 13 U.L.A. pt. II, at 19 (Supp. 2011) (Prefatory Note).
    The repugnancy ground for non-recognition of foreign
    judgments is therefore an affirmative defense. See § 1716(d).
    This statutorily specified burden applies equally where, as
    here, the ground of repugnancy is an asserted violation of
    federal constitutional norms. See, e.g., Sarl Louis Feraud
    Int’l v. Viewfinder, Inc., 
    489 F.3d 474
    , 477–78 (2d Cir. 2007).
    Thus, the Church has the burden of establishing the grounds
    it has raised for non-recognition of the judgment.
    II. DISCUSSION
    This case presents questions of first impression in this
    circuit, relating to the enforcement of a foreign-country
    money judgment challenged on constitutional grounds.10
    Specifically, we must consider the constitutional implications
    of enforcing such a judgment if the Religion Clauses would
    bar a court in the United States from rendering the same
    judgment in the first instance. Also at issue is whether a
    foreign-country money judgment that might be inconsistent
    10
    The only Ninth Circuit case that involved somewhat similar issues
    concerned a declaratory judgment action seeking to bar enforcement of a
    French injunction— not a money judgment— requiring an American
    company, Yahoo!, to restrict French users’ access to certain online
    material on the basis of its content. Yahoo! II, 
    433 F.3d 1199
    . The district
    court had held that enforcement of the order would violate the First
    Amendment. Yahoo!, Inc. v. La Ligue Contre Le Racisme et
    L’Antisemitisme, 
    169 F. Supp. 2d 1181
    , 1192–93 (N.D. Cal. 2001)
    (“Yahoo! I”), rev’d en banc on other grounds, 
    433 F.3d 1199
     (9th Cir.
    2006) (per curiam). Unlike here, however, no attempt had been made to
    enforce the French judgment in the United States. On appeal, a majority
    of the en banc panel agreed that the case should be dismissed, for lack of
    ripeness or lack of personal jurisdiction, and so did not reach the merits of
    any constitutional or repugnancy questions. Yahoo! II, 433 F.3d at 1224.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                               15
    with the Federal Constitution or a state constitution if issued
    by a domestic court is repugnant to public policy and
    therefore can be denied enforcement under the Uniform Act.11
    As we explain below, we do not reach the question of
    whether a domestic tort judgment parallel to the Japanese
    judgment would have been unconstitutional under the
    Religion Clauses had Ohno’s suit been brought here. Instead,
    we conclude: first, that enforcement of this foreign-country
    money judgment by a domestic court does not constitute
    domestic state action triggering constitutional scrutiny; and,
    second, that neither the judgment at issue in this particular
    case nor the cause of action on which it is based is so
    repugnant to public policy as to qualify for non-enforcement
    under the Uniform Act.
    A. Constitutional Challenge
    The Church’s direct constitutional challenge turns on
    whether the district court’s enforcement of the damages
    award issued by a foreign sovereign amounted to domestic
    governmental action subject to the constraints of the Religion
    Clauses.12
    11
    Under the Uniform Act, § 1716(c), a court that determines a foreign-
    country money judgment or the cause of action on which the judgment is
    based to be repugnant to public policy is “not required” to recognize the
    judgment, but—impliedly— may do so at its discretion. Conversely, if the
    Japanese judgment is not repugnant to public policy, then, barring any
    other ground for non-recognition, the district court was required to
    enforce it.
    12
    The free speech provisions in Article I of the California Constitution
    do not always turn on state action. See Ralphs Grocery Co. v. United Food
    & Commercial Workers U nion Local 8, 
    55 Cal. 4th 1083
    , 1093–94
    16                       OHNO V . YASUMA
    Recognizing and enforcing a foreign-country money
    judgment is distinct from rendering that judgment in the first
    instance. The district court, in giving effect to the judgment
    issued in Japan, has not participated in the action the Church
    claims is unconstitutional—namely, judging the truth or
    falsity of the Church’s religious teachings or imposing
    liability for the consequences of religious expression. In the
    absence of such participation, we conclude the district court’s
    recognition and enforcement of the Japanese damages award
    in this case does not transform the underlying foreign court’s
    ruling into domestic “state action” subject to constitutional
    scrutiny.
    i. State Action
    “[M]ost rights secured by the Constitution are protected
    only against infringement by governments,” so that “the
    conduct allegedly causing the deprivation of a federal right
    [must] be fairly attributable to the State.” Lugar v.
    Edmondson Oil Co., 
    457 U.S. 922
    , 936–37 (1982) (internal
    quotation marks omitted). If the action challenged here is not
    (2012); Fashion Valley Mall, LLC v. NLRB, 
    42 Cal. 4th 850
    , 858, 870
    (2007); Robins v. Pruneyard Shopping Ctr., 
    23 Cal. 3d 899
    , 910 (1979),
    aff’d, 
    447 U.S. 74
     (1980). Like the First Amendment Free Exercise
    Clause, however, the free exercise clause in Article I, section 4 of the
    California Constitution protects against only governmental action that
    burdens religious freedom. See Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. v.
    Superior Court, 
    32 Cal. 4th 527
    , 561 (2004); Vernon v. City of Los
    Angeles, 
    27 F.3d 1385
    , 1392–93 (9th Cir. 1994). Our discussion therefore
    applies to both the Federal and State Constitutions. W e concentrate on
    federal state action precedents but do so with the understanding that the
    same state action principles apply under the California Constitution as
    well. As we conclude that there was no state action subject to
    constitutional scrutiny, we need not decide whether the California and
    federal free exercise clauses are otherwise coterminous.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                         17
    so attributable, then there is no “state action” and no violation
    of the Religion Clauses.
    Foreign governments, like the government of Japan, are
    not bound by the U.S. or California Constitutions. “[O]ur
    notions of due process,” for example, do not apply “to foreign
    court proceedings against American citizens who have
    committed foreign crimes outside the United States.” United
    States v. Gecas, 
    120 F.3d 1419
    , 1430 (11th Cir. 1997) (en
    banc) (citing Neely v. Henkel, 
    180 U.S. 109
    , 123 (1901)); see
    also United States v. Ant, 
    882 F.2d 1389
    , 1395 n.8 (9th Cir.
    1989) (“‘Neither the Fourth nor the Fourteenth Amendments
    are directed at Mexican officials . . . .’”) (quoting Brulay v.
    United States, 
    383 F.2d 345
    , 348 (9th Cir. 1967)); United
    States v. Peterson, 
    812 F.2d 486
    , 490 (9th Cir. 1987); United
    States v. Rose, 
    570 F.2d 1358
    , 1361–62 (9th Cir. 1978); Flynn
    v. Shultz, 
    748 F.2d 1186
    , 1197 (7th Cir. 1984) (“Obviously,
    the Mexican government is not bound by the requirements of
    our Constitution even when prosecuting a United States
    citizen . . . .”). In particular, “[i]t is, of course, a
    commonplace that the [First Amendment] is a guarantee only
    against abridgment by government, federal or state.”
    Hudgens v. NLRB, 
    424 U.S. 507
    , 513 (1976) (emphasis
    added).
    As foreign-country court orders, like domestic contracts
    between private parties, are not, without more, subject to the
    constraints of our constitutional law, neither the laws of Japan
    nor the decisions of its courts constitute domestic “state
    action” for the purposes of a constitutional claim in this
    country. The success of the Church’s direct constitutional
    arguments therefore depends upon showing that, through its
    enforcement by a domestic court, the judgment issued in
    18                    OHNO V . YASUMA
    Japan becomes action of the government, and so subject to
    constitutional scrutiny.
    Decisions of a domestic court in the United States do
    constitute governmental action. State action “refers to
    exertions of state power in all forms,” Shelley v. Kraemer,
    
    334 U.S. 1
    , 20 (1948) (emphasis added), so that “[s]tate
    action, for purposes of the [Constitution], may emanate from
    rulings of administrative and regulatory agencies as well as
    from legislative or judicial action,” Moose Lodge No. 107 v.
    Irvis, 
    407 U.S. 163
    , 179 (1972) (emphasis added). Thus, “the
    action of state courts and of judicial officers in their official
    capacities [has long been] regarded as action of the State
    within the meaning of the Fourteenth Amendment,” Shelley,
    334 U.S. at 14, and so, too, has the action of federal courts,
    see Gathright v. City of Portland, 
    439 F.3d 573
    , 576 n.2 (9th
    Cir. 2006); cf. Hurd v. Hodge, 
    334 U.S. 24
    , 31–36 (1948).
    So there is no doubt that the district court’s decision in
    this case applying California’s Uniform Act—legislation that
    is itself the result of governmental action—constitutes state
    action for purposes of constitutional scrutiny. But that truism
    does not resolve our question, which is: Should the substance
    of the underlying Japanese monetary damages judgment,
    resulting from a lawsuit in Japan between two private parties,
    be ascribed to the district court’s enforcement of the
    judgment under the Uniform Act and so subjected to
    constitutional scrutiny? “Precisely when . . . judicial
    involvement in private litigation assumes constitutional
    dimensions is a problem that has perplexed courts and
    scholars for decades.” Dahl v. Akin, 
    630 F.2d 277
    , 280 (5th
    Cir. 1980). Given the parallelism, for constitutional state
    action purposes, between private domestic action and the
    actions of foreign governments, essentially the same
    OHNO V . YASUMA                        19
    perplexities arise with regard to the enforcement of foreign
    judgments resulting from litigation abroad. We therefore rely
    on both contexts in our analysis.
    a.
    We begin our analysis with general state action precepts:
    At bottom, the state action requirement serves to “avoid[]
    imposing on the State, its agencies or officials, responsibility
    for conduct for which they cannot fairly be blamed.” Lugar,
    457 U.S. at 936.           Consistent with this approach,
    “constitutional standards are invoked only when it can be said
    that the State is responsible for the specific conduct of which
    the plaintiff complains.” Blum v. Yaretsky, 
    457 U.S. 991
    ,
    1004 (1982).
    Lugar, a case concerning a private creditor’s use of state
    courts to effectuate a prejudgment attachment, set forth a
    broadly applicable two-prong framework for analyzing when
    governmental involvement in private action is itself sufficient
    in character and impact that the government fairly can be
    viewed as responsible for the harm of which the plaintiff
    complains. 457 U.S. at 937–42. The first prong asks whether
    the claimed constitutional deprivation resulted from “the
    exercise of some right or privilege created by the State or by
    a rule of conduct imposed by the state or by a person for
    whom the State is responsible.” Id. at 937. The second prong
    determines whether the party charged with the deprivation
    could be described in all fairness as a state actor. Id.
    Domestic judicial enforcement of the Japanese judgment in
    this case satisfies neither prong of the Lugar framework.
    As to the first prong, the Church does not challenge the
    constitutionality of the Uniform Act, facially or as applied.
    20                    OHNO V . YASUMA
    Instead, it challenges the constitutionality of the Japanese tort
    judgment Ohno seeks to enforce under the Uniform Act. As
    the source of the alleged constitutional harm is thus Japanese
    tort law, created by and enforced through Japanese
    governmental entities, the claimed constitutional deprivation
    cannot be traced to a right, privilege, or rule of conduct
    imposed by a domestic governmental entity or individual.
    See id.
    The Church disagrees, relying on Paul v. Watchtower
    Bible & Tract Society of New York, Inc., 
    819 F.2d 875
     (9th
    Cir. 1987). Paul held that the application of Washington tort
    law to establish damages liability for actions taken in
    furtherance of religious beliefs constitutes an exercise of state
    power, subject to constitutional scrutiny. Id. at 880–81. The
    Church’s reliance on Paul is misplaced.
    First, the district court here did not apply tort law; it
    applied California’s Uniform Act, and did not re-try the facts
    of the case or re-assess the Church’s liability for any injury
    alleged. Second, even if it could be said that the district
    court’s recognition of the Japanese damages award is
    tantamount to directly imposing liability in the first
    instance—a proposition that we do not endorse—the tort law
    applied in this case is the law of Japan, not of California. As
    such, the content of the law is not attributable to a domestic
    state actor, and so its application to the Church’s challenged
    conduct (all of which was conduct that took place in Japan or
    was specifically directed at Ohno in Japan) is not an exercise
    of domestic state power. The same logic applies to private
    tort suits initiated in the United States: A tort action between
    private parties does not involve state action simply because
    the court in which the case is pursued is an organ of the state
    or federal government. Rather, a private tort action initiated
    OHNO V . YASUMA                        21
    in the United States may involve governmental action subject
    to constitutional constraints where it is domestic substantive
    law that allows recovery. See New York Times Co. v.
    Sullivan, 
    376 U.S. 254
    , 277–78 (1964).
    Paul applied an analysis similar to that in New York
    Times, explaining that it was because tort liability stemmed
    from state substantive law that its imposition constituted state
    action triggering constitutional scrutiny. Paul, 819 F.2d at
    880. Expounding in Paul, we clarified that regardless of the
    form an American state’s tort law takes—“whether statutory
    or common law”—it relies on the power of state government
    to regulate conduct. Id. (citing New York Times, 376 U.S. at
    265). It is for that reason—and not simply because of judicial
    involvement—that “the application of [domestic] tort law to
    activities of a church or its adherents in their furtherance of
    their religious belief is an exercise of state power.” Id.
    Similarly, Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. held that a state
    court’s application of the common law doctrine of promissory
    estoppel to enforce a newspaper’s confidentiality agreement
    was subject to constitutional scrutiny, as an “application of
    state rules of law.” 
    501 U.S. 663
    , 668 (1991).
    In short, only the tort law of Japan, and not the law of any
    state or the federal government, underlay the Japanese
    judgment. The first Lugar prong therefore does not apply.
    Even if enforcement of the Japanese judgment satisfied
    the first prong of the Lugar framework, it would fail the
    second. Here, “the party charged with the deprivation” is not
    “a person who may fairly be said to be a state actor,” where
    “state actor” means an actor for whom a domestic
    governmental entity is in some sense responsible. Lugar, 457
    U.S. at 937. Although the Japanese courts are organs of the
    22                         OHNO V . YASUMA
    State of Japan, they are not organs of the federal or California
    government. And while the Japanese courts surely perform
    a public function in Japan, they were not compelled to
    conclude as they did by American law, or aided in their
    decision by the participation of an American governmental
    actor or entity.
    Nor can Ohno, in bringing an enforcement suit under
    California’s Uniform Act, be likened to a state actor. “‘The
    Supreme Court has articulated four tests for determining
    whether a [non-governmental person’s] actions amount to
    state action: (1) the public function test; (2) the joint action
    test; (3) the state compulsion test; and (4) the governmental
    nexus test.’” Tsao v. Desert Palace, Inc., 
    698 F.3d 1128
    ,
    1140 (9th Cir. 2012) (quoting Franklin v. Fox, 
    312 F.3d 423
    ,
    444–45 (9th Cir. 2002)). Most relevant here are the “public
    function” and “joint action” tests13: The former treats private
    13
    These two tests largely subsume the state compulsion and
    governmental nexus tests, because they address the degree to which the
    state is intertwined with the private actor or action. The state compulsion
    test requires a showing that “the state has ‘exercised coercive power or has
    provided such significant encouragement, either overt or covert, that the
    [private actor’s] choice must in law be deemed to be that of the State.’”
    Johnson v. Knowles, 
    113 F.3d 1114
    , 1119 (9th Cir. 1997) (alteration in
    original) (quoting Yaretsky, 457 U.S. at 1004). “Under the governmental
    nexus test, a private party acts under color of state law if ‘there is a
    sufficiently close nexus between the State and the challenged action of the
    regulated entity so that the action of the latter may be fairly treated as that
    of the State itself.’” Lopez v. Dep’t of Health Servs., 
    939 F.2d 881
    , 883
    (9th Cir. 1991) (per curiam) (quoting Jackson v. Metro. Edison Co., 
    419 U.S. 345
    , 351 (1974)). For simplicity, we refer only to the “public
    function” and “joint action” tests, but intend thereby to incorporate all four
    tests. Accordingly, our conclusion that Ohno is not a state actor for
    constitutional purposes encompasses all four state action tests articulated
    by the Supreme Court.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                        23
    actors as state actors when they perform a task or exercise
    powers traditionally reserved to the government. See, e.g.,
    Jackson v. Metro. Edison Co., 
    419 U.S. 345
    , 352 (1974);
    Terry v. Adams, 
    345 U.S. 461
    , 469–70 (1953); Marsh v.
    Alabama, 
    326 U.S. 501
    , 507–08 (1946). The latter focuses on
    “‘whether state officials and private parties have acted in
    concert in effecting a particular deprivation of constitutional
    rights.’” Tsao, 698 F.3d at 1140 (quoting Franklin, 312 F.3d
    at 445). “Joint action” exists where the government affirms,
    authorizes, encourages, or facilitates unconstitutional conduct
    through its involvement with a private party, see, e.g., Lugar,
    457 U.S. at 941; Flagg Bros. v. Brooks, 
    436 U.S. 149
    , 157,
    164–65 (1978); Sniadach v. Family Fin. Corp. of Bay View,
    
    395 U.S. 337
     (1969); Shelley, 
    334 U.S. 1
    , or otherwise has
    “so far insinuated itself into a position of interdependence
    with [the non-governmental party] that it must be recognized
    as a joint participant in the challenged activity,” Tsao, 698
    F.3d at 1140 (internal quotation marks omitted).
    Ohno’s use of California’s Uniform Act as a litigant does
    not make her a state actor through the public function test.
    Although the court assuredly performs a public purpose, a
    private individual seeking a remedy from a court is seeking
    gain for him or herself, a purely private act. “[M]erely
    resorting to the courts and being on the winning side of a
    lawsuit does not make a party a co-conspirator . . . with the
    judge.” Dennis v. Sparks, 
    449 U.S. 24
    , 28 (1980).
    Nor does Ohno’s invocation of the Uniform Act convert
    the underlying Japanese judgment into the joint action of
    Ohno and the State of California or the district court. Again,
    although California’s Uniform Act creates the legal
    framework that may entitle the holder of a qualifying foreign-
    country money judgment to recognition and enforcement of
    24                   OHNO V . YASUMA
    that judgment in the courts, the Uniform Act is not the source
    of the substantive legal rights underlying the judgment
    enforced.
    To be sure, the district court’s enforcement order
    facilitates Ohno’s efforts to recover in the United States the
    sum of money awarded by the Japanese court. But the district
    court, through its implementation of the procedures
    established by the Uniform Act, cannot be said to provide
    “significant assistance” to the underlying acts that the Church
    contends constituted the core violation of its First
    Amendment rights—namely, judicial scrutiny of the content
    of its religious beliefs and imposition of liability for the
    consequences of its religious expression. California law
    requires a court to recognize a final, conclusive foreign
    monetary award that is enforceable where rendered, Cal. Civ.
    Proc. Code § 1716(a), without inquiry into the merits of the
    underlying judgment, once the court determines that there is
    no ground for nonrecognition under § 1716(b) or (c) of the
    Uniform Act. The court’s mandatory indifference to the
    underlying merits of the judgment Ohno is seeking to enforce
    refutes any characterization by the Church of Ohno’s
    enforcement effort as a joint action with California or the
    federal judiciary as to the aspects of the Japanese judgment
    alleged to compromise the Church’s religious freedom.
    Notably, the cases in which the Supreme Court has held
    that private use of state-created procedures amounts to state
    action have, by and large, concerned due process challenges
    to the state procedures themselves or their application. Those
    cases have not addressed constitutional challenges to the
    underlying causes of action that prompted the non-
    governmental party’s recourse to the state enforcement
    procedures. See, e.g., Tulsa Prof’l Collection Servs., Inc. v.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                               25
    Pope, 
    485 U.S. 478
     (1988); Lugar, 
    457 U.S. 922
    ; Sniadach,
    
    395 U.S. 337
    .14 For example, in Sniadach, the petitioner
    challenged the proceedings by which her wages were
    garnished, arguing that they violated due process. 395 U.S.
    at 339–40. She did not contend that the underlying
    contractual debt could not ultimately be judicially enforced
    because there was some aspect of the contract that, if
    mandated by the government, would constitute
    unconstitutional state action. Id. Here, in contrast, the
    Church’s challenge is not to the procedures used to enforce
    the underlying Japanese judgment in federal court but to the
    substantive rights and defenses that gave rise to that
    judgment—which, for present purposes, is analogous to a
    private contract or debt, because not attributable to any
    domestic state action or state actors.
    As to a final joint action consideration, it cannot be said
    that the federal or California government in any meaningful
    way accepts benefits derived from the allegedly
    unconstitutional actions. See Florer v. Congregation Pidyon
    Shevuyim, N.A., 
    639 F.3d 916
    , 926 (9th Cir. 2011). At most,
    the United States may gain some diplomatic benefit when it
    recognizes foreign-country judgments, manifested through
    increased reciprocity in the treatment of U.S. judgments
    14
    In Edmonson v. Leesville Concrete Co., 
    500 U.S. 614
     (1991), the
    Court came closer than in the run of cases to imputing the substance
    behind a private party’s use of a state procedure—that of peremptory
    challenges to strike prospective jurors from a venire— to the state itself.
    But unlike statutory schemes such as the Uniform Act, which exist to
    serve private purposes, the entire endeavor at issue in Edmonson serves
    governmental purposes— namely, conducting a civil trial. Through
    peremptory challenges, the state essentially delegates to private parties in
    a civil trial part of the public function of selecting a jury. See id. at
    621–24.
    26                    OHNO V . YASUMA
    abroad. But this benefit is, once again, independent of the
    content of the judgments recognized and so cannot be said to
    incorporate the allegedly unconstitutional acts underlying
    them.
    In sum, neither the Uniform Act nor the district court’s
    challenged enforcement at Ohno’s behest of the Japanese
    money judgment meets the standards for state action, under
    the controlling Lugar framework, with regard to the
    substance of the Japanese judicial decision. Both the Act and
    the court’s involvement in implementing it are assuredly
    governmental actions. But the purposely limited nature of
    that involvement undermines the attribution to domestic
    governmental actors of responsibility for the Japanese court’s
    determination that the Church committed a tort by unfairly
    inducing Ohno to transfer all of her money to Saints of Glory,
    and so is liable to her for damages.
    b.
    Consideration of the seminal civil rights case, Shelley v.
    Kraemer, 
    334 U.S. 1
    , does not alter our mode of analysis
    under the generally applicable Lugar framework or lead us to
    conclude otherwise. Shelley established that judicial
    enforcement of a legal right or obligation whose source is not
    domestic governmental action can constitute state action
    triggering constitutional scrutiny. See id. at 20. Specifically,
    Shelley held that a state court’s enforcement of racially
    restrictive housing covenants entered into between private
    land owners amounts to state action in violation of the Equal
    Protection Clause. Id. The Court viewed the interposition of
    judicial coercive power to enforce racially discriminatory
    private agreements as governmental discrimination on the
    basis of race. Id. at 20–21; see also Barrows v. Jackson, 346
    OHNO V . YASUMA                                 
    27 U.S. 249
    , 254, 258 (1953) (applying the same state action
    principle to a court’s award of damages for violation of a
    discriminatory private contract).
    But Shelley has not been interpreted as meaning that
    domestic judicial enforcement of any monetary obligation
    necessarily transforms the circumstances that gave rise to that
    obligation into state action for constitutional purposes.15
    15
    Looking for precedents applying Shelley in the context of domestic
    enforcement of foreign judgments yields few helpful authorities. The
    Yahoo! district court, relying on Shelley’s reasoning, refused to enforce a
    foreign judgment on First Amendment grounds, holding that domestic
    judicial enforcement of a foreign judgment constitutes state action with
    regard to the underlying foreign order, for constitutional purposes. Yahoo!
    I, 169 F. Supp. 2d at 1189, rev’d on other grounds, Yahoo! II, 
    433 F.3d 1199
    . Yahoo! I concerned a French injunction that imposed viewpoint-
    based restrictions on speech. As we discuss later, see Parts II.A.i.c, II.B.ii,
    the state action considerations with respect to enforcement of a foreign
    injunction differ from those that arise with respect to enforcement of an
    order to pay a sum of money.
    On appeal, we dismissed the Yahoo! I case for lack of personal
    jurisdiction and ripeness, without mentioning Shelley or its reasoning.
    Yahoo! II, 433 F.3d at 1201. To the extent that the opinions discussed the
    merits of the First Amendment question, a majority of the judges on the
    en banc panel assumed that the constitutionality of enforcing the
    challenged foreign judgment would depend on whether compliance with
    the French court’s order would restrict Yahoo!’s dissemination of, and
    users’ access to, speech in the United States. See id. at 1220–22 (plurality
    opinion); id. at 1234–35, 1244–45 (Fisher, J., concurring in part and
    dissenting in part).
    Other courts addressing similar issues have held, without discussing
    state action directly or otherwise explaining their conclusion, that where
    a foreign judgment fails to comport with domestic constitutional
    requirements, “the refusal to recognize the judgment should be, and it is
    deemed to be, ‘constitutionally mandatory.’” Bachchan v. India Abroad
    28                       OHNO V . YASUMA
    Instead, Shelley’s attribution of state action to judicial
    enforcement has generally been confined to the context of
    discrimination claims under the Equal Protection Clause. In
    the context of First Amendment challenges to speech-
    restrictive provisions in private agreements or contracts,
    domestic judicial enforcement of terms that could not be
    enacted by the government has not ordinarily been considered
    state action. See, e.g., Democratic Nat’l Comm. v.
    Republican Nat’l Comm., 
    673 F.3d 192
    , 204–05 (3d Cir.
    2012) (“The Supreme Court has declined to find state action
    where the court action in question is a far cry from the court
    enforcement in Shelley. . . . Court enforcement of a private
    agreement to limit a party’s ability to speak or associate does
    not necessarily violate the First Amendment.”), cert. denied,
    
    133 S. Ct. 931
     ( 2013). Various state court decisions “enforce
    restrictions on speech arising from domestic contracts that
    could not have been enacted into law due to the First
    Amendment.” Mark D. Rosen, Exporting the Constitution,
    53 Emory L.J. 171, 174, 192–94 & nn.98–111 (2004)
    (compiling cases).16
    Publ’ns Inc., 
    585 N.Y.S.2d 661
    , 662 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1992); see also
    Viewfinder, 489 F.3d at 480 (holding “unenforceable” judgments that
    “impinge on First Amendment rights”) (quoting Bachchan, 585 N.Y.S.2d
    at 662, and Yahoo! I, 169 F. Supp. 2d at 1189–90). Although those rulings
    may assume that judicial enforcement transforms the underlying foreign
    judgment into one adopted by and attributable to the domestic court, the
    opinions do not identify the basis for any such unarticulated assumption.
    16
    See, e.g., Golden Gateway Ctr. v. Golden Gateway Tenants Ass’n, 
    26 Cal. 4th 1013
    , 1033–35 (2001) (upholding an injunction enforcing a lease
    provision prohibiting tenants from distributing unsolicited newspapers on
    the ground that “judicial enforcement of injunctive relief does not, by
    itself, constitute state action for purposes of California’s free speech
    clause”); State v. Noah, 103 W ash. App. 29, 48–50 (2000) (judicial
    enforcement of a voluntary settlement agreement prohibiting public
    OHNO V . YASUMA                              29
    Similarly, in the context of judicial confirmation of
    arbitral awards, loosely analogous to recognition of foreign-
    country money judgments, the Eleventh Circuit has held that
    “mere confirmation of a private arbitration award by a district
    court is insufficient state action to trigger the application of
    the Due Process Clause.” Davis v. Prudential Secs., Inc., 
    59 F.3d 1186
    , 1192 (11th Cir. 1995). Other courts agree. United
    States v. American Society of Composers, Authors &
    Publishers, 
    708 F. Supp. 95
     (S.D.N.Y. 1989), for example,
    held that a court’s “mere approval . . . of the use of arbitration
    did not create any state action” lest “all arbitrations . . . be
    subject to due process limitations through the simple act of
    appealing the arbitrators’ decisions to the court system.” Id.
    at 97. And the California Court of Appeal has made clear
    that “the limited state involvement of converting the
    [arbitration] award into a judgment . . . [does] not engender
    the same due process incidents required with respect to an
    award originally assessed and imposed by a court.” Rifkind
    criticism of certain type of psychological therapy was not state action);
    Linn Valley Lakes Prop. Owners Ass’n v. Brockway, 
    250 Kan. 169
    ,
    172–73 (1992) (judicial enforcement of a restrictive covenant barring the
    posting of signs was not state action); cf. CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber
    Promotions, Inc., 
    962 F. Supp. 1015
    , 1026 (S.D. Ohio 1997) (“[T]he mere
    judicial enforcement of . . . trespass laws [of general application] by the
    private owner of property does not alone render [the owner] a state
    actor.”); Commonwealth v. Hood, 
    389 Mass. 581
    , 587–89 (1983) (holding
    that judicial enforcement of trespass statute of general application is not
    state action); but see W. Hill Baptist Church v. Abbate, 
    261 N.E.2d 196
    ,
    200–01 (Ohio 1969) (judicial enforcement of restrictive covenant
    excluding houses of worship constitutes state action).
    30                         OHNO V . YASUMA
    & Sterling, Inc. v. Rifkind, 
    28 Cal. App. 4th 1282
    , 1292
    (1994).17
    Courts’ reluctance, since Shelley, to expand that case’s
    holding too far beyond its original context stems from a
    concern for preserving a sphere for private action and private
    actors, not subject to the constitutional constraints designed
    to protect our populace from governmental control and
    overreaching. “[I]f, for constitutional purposes, every private
    right were transformed into governmental action by the mere
    fact of court enforcement of it, the distinction between private
    and governmental action would be obliterated.” Edwards v.
    Habib, 
    397 F.2d 687
    , 691 (D.C. Cir. 1968). Similarly,
    extending Shelley’s holding to judicial enforcement of
    foreign-country money judgments would effectively require
    foreign governments desiring American recognition of their
    judicial rulings to apply the substantive provisions of the U.S.
    Constitution in their courts whenever there is a defendant
    who could be sued for enforcement in the United States,
    regardless of where the conduct subject to adjudication
    occurred or who the litigants are. Such wholesale imposition
    of all aspects of our Constitution abroad is inconsistent with
    the principles of comity and respect for sovereignty
    underlying the recognition of foreign judgments.
    For all these reasons, the district court’s enforcement of
    the Japanese judgment does not render the substantive law
    applied by the Japanese court, or the judgment it reached in
    applying that law, domestic state action directly constrained
    17
    In citing these cases, we do not mean to adopt or sanction any of their
    specific holdings. Instead, they are illustrative of the principle that Shelley
    has not been understood as applying generally to judicial enforcement of
    non-governmental agreements or decisions.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                         31
    by the California or U.S. Constitutions. Consequently,
    contrary to the Church’s contention, non-recognition of the
    judgment cannot be constitutionally mandatory.
    c.
    In so holding, we do not suggest that “all that matters” in
    the state action inquiry is whether an American entity “is the
    origin of the legal right” enforced in a domestic court. Rosen,
    53 Emory L.J. at 207. For example, there may be
    circumstances in which the nature of the enforcement action
    requires the court to take such an active role in, or to exercise
    sustained supervision of, the underlying legal decision or the
    resulting allocation of rights that it becomes appropriate to
    view the court’s activities as governmental actions with
    regard to the substance of the underlying decision or of the
    resulting order.
    Such may well be the case, for example, with regard to
    the enforcement in a domestic court of some (or all)
    injunctions issued by foreign countries. Injunctions directly
    compel or forbid a party’s actions, and thus may be seen as
    placing the domestic court’s imprimatur behind the substance
    of the foreign court’s order to that extent. Also, enforcement
    of injunctions implies the authority to exercise contempt and
    modification powers after the injunction issues; the exercise
    of such authority may entangle the enforcing court in the
    merits of the underlying dispute. Whether or not these
    aspects of injunctive relief could result in a determination that
    enforcement by a domestic court of a particular foreign
    injunction constitutes state action for constitutional purposes,
    those same considerations are not present where, as here, the
    enforcement is of an order to pay over a pre-determined
    amount of money. In the latter instance, the connection
    32                       OHNO V . YASUMA
    between the narrow domestic court order and the asserted
    violation by the foreign court of substantive rights protected
    by our Constitution is simply too attenuated, without more, to
    attribute responsibility for the merits of the underlying
    judgment to a domestic state actor. And, standing alone, the
    order—to pay money to someone—does not mandate a
    constitutionally protected act.
    ii. Application of the First Amendment to the
    Church’s Conduct
    Because the Church’s constitutional claim fails at the
    state action stage, we need not decide directly whether the
    First Amendment’s protections actually do reach the
    assertedly religious expression at issue in the Japanese suit.
    As three judges noted in Yahoo! II, “[t]he extent of First
    Amendment protection of speech accessible solely by those
    outside the United States is a difficult and, to some degree,
    unresolved issue” and “the extent—indeed the very
    existence—of such an extraterritorial right under the First
    Amendment [to publish speech in violation of foreign law] is
    uncertain.” 433 F.3d at 1217, 1221 (plurality opinion). Nor
    has any court yet decided whether the First Amendment’s
    Free Exercise Clause applies to religious expression initiated
    domestically but directed to a foreign audience.
    Ohno was in Japan at all relevant times, and the Church
    communicated with her there.18 Absent demonstrated impact
    18
    The Japanese court’s findings indicate that the Church intentionally
    directed its allegedly religious speech to Ohno in Japan. The court found,
    for example, that “[o]n January 2, 2002, . . . Yasuma took several hours
    to talk to Ohno [on January 2, 2002], . . . pressuring her to tithe,”
    (emphasis added) and that this talk ultimately led Ohno to make the
    OHNO V . YASUMA                                33
    of the Japanese judgment on conduct in the United States, the
    only constitutional question we face would “involve a
    determination whether the First Amendment has
    extraterritorial application”—a determination this Court
    declined to make in Yahoo! II, 433 F.3d at 1217–18, 1222
    (plurality opinion); see also id. at 1234–35, 1244–45 (Fisher,
    J., concurring in part and dissenting in part), and which we
    likewise decline to make here.19 Having concluded that the
    enforcement of the judgment does not amount to state action,
    we reserve for another day the task of tracing the First
    Amendment’s reach beyond our borders.
    Our analysis does not, however, foreclose other, non-
    constitutional bars to enforcement of a foreign-country
    money judgment, such as repugnancy to public policy. As we
    discuss next, there can be sound policy justifications for
    refusing to recognize foreign-country money judgments that
    the Constitution would forbid a domestic court from
    rendering in the first instance.
    contested transfers to Saints of Glory. The findings also show that as a
    general matter, the Church sent recordings of each of Yasuma’s sermons
    to Japan, to be played to its members there. The Church does not dispute
    that the events at issue “occurred chiefly in Japan.” Although it is not clear
    whether Yasuma came to Japan or whether, instead, the Church sent a
    copy of her speech to Japan, we do not see why it matters which is the
    case.
    19
    That the judgment at issue here is an award of monetary damages
    rather than an injunction, as in Yahoo!, could bear on our analysis of the
    substantive constitutional issue as well as on the state action inquiry.
    W hile the imposition of liability in the form of damages can have the
    effect of chilling protected conduct, that effect is much less direct than is
    the effect of using the coercive power of a domestic court to ensure that
    a defendant complies with the terms of an injunction, compelling or
    forbidding particular conduct.
    34                   OHNO V . YASUMA
    B. Statutory Challenge: Repugnancy to Public Policy
    In addition to its constitutional argument, the Church
    contends that the Japanese judgment is not entitled to
    recognition and enforcement under California’s Uniform Act
    because it is “repugnant to the public policy” embodied in the
    Religion Clauses of the Federal and State Constitutions. A
    foreign judgment that would be unconstitutional if rendered
    in this country necessarily qualifies as repugnant, the Church
    maintains, making its recognition an abuse of discretion
    under California’s Uniform Act.
    The Act permits—but does not require—courts to deny
    recognition to foreign monetary awards if either “[t]he
    judgment or the cause of action or claim for relief on which
    the judgment is based is repugnant to the public policy of
    California or of the United States.” § 1716(c)(3) (emphases
    added). Accordingly, we examine whether either the
    Japanese law on which the judgment rests or the judgment
    issued meets the stringent standard for repugnancy under
    California law.
    i. The Standard of Review
    We first address the proper standard for reviewing a
    district court’s decision whether to refuse recognition of a
    foreign-country money judgment under California’s Uniform
    Act or similar state statutes on grounds of repugnancy to
    public policy. The only case of this court addressing a
    somewhat similar issue is Arab Monetary Fund v. Hashim (In
    re Hashim), 
    213 F.3d 1169
     (9th Cir. 2000). Hashim treated
    a bankruptcy court’s determination that an English award of
    costs and fees was “repugnant to American jurisprudence”
    and thus unenforceable under Arizona common law
    OHNO V . YASUMA                               35
    principles of comity, as a legal conclusion, subject to de novo
    review. Id. at 1172.20
    Absent a demonstrated ground for non-recognition,
    enforcement of a qualifying foreign-country money judgment
    is mandatory under California’s Uniform Act. § 1716(a).
    Here, the district court’s decision to recognize and enforce the
    Japanese court’s judgment, over the Church’s objections,
    hinged on a preliminary determination that neither the
    judgment nor the underlying cause of action was
    fundamentally incompatible with, and therefore repugnant to,
    the Religion Clauses. Because that determination was a
    conclusion of law, we, as in Hashim, examine de novo the
    district court’s legal evaluation. Given that the Church has
    asserted no other ground for non-recognition on appeal, if the
    district court correctly determined that neither the Japanese
    judgment nor the underlying cause of action is repugnant to
    20
    Other circuits reviewing recognition of foreign judgments under state
    statutes similar to California’s have applied an abuse of discretion
    standard. See, e.g., Banque Libanaise Pour Le Commerce v. Khreich, 
    915 F.2d 1000
    , 1004–06 (5th Cir. 1990) (reviewing for abuse of discretion a
    district court decision whether to apply a non-mandatory ground of non-
    recognition under Texas’s Uniform Act); Ingersoll Milling Mach. Co. v.
    Granger, 
    833 F.2d 680
    , 688 (7th Cir. 1987) (reviewing for abuse of
    discretion the district court’s refusal to deny recognition on public policy
    grounds under Illinois’s Uniform Act, but evaluating the defendant’s
    principal legal arguments de novo “for the sake of completeness”); cf.
    Remington Rand Corp.-Del. v. Bus. Sys. Inc., 
    830 F.2d 1260
    , 1266 (3d
    Cir. 1987) (citing IIT Corp. v. Lam (In re Colo. Corp.), 
    531 F.2d 463
    , 469
    (10th Cir. 1976) (reviewing for abuse of discretion the extension or denial
    of comity)). Even if we were to apply a deferential standard of review, a
    district court “abuses its discretion when it commits an error of law.” AE
    ex rel. Hernandez v. Cnty. of Tulare, 
    666 F.3d 631
    , 636 (9th Cir. 2012).
    So the analysis would be the same as the one we conduct.
    36                        OHNO V . YASUMA
    public policy, then recognition of the damages award was
    statutorily required.
    ii. The Standard for Repugnance
    California courts have set a high bar for repugnancy under
    the Uniform Act. The standard, rooted in the public policy
    exception to the comity doctrine at common law, see Hilton
    v. Guyot, 
    159 U.S. 113
    , 205–06, 227–28 (1895), measures not
    simply whether the foreign judgment or cause of action is
    contrary to our public policy, but whether either is “so
    offensive to our public policy as to be ‘prejudicial to
    recognized standards of morality and to the general interests
    of the citizens.’” Java Oil Ltd. v. Sullivan, 
    168 Cal. App. 4th 1178
    , 1189–92 (2008) (emphasis added) (quoting Wong v.
    Tenneco, Inc., 
    39 Cal. 3d 126
    , 135–36 (1985)). Thus, “even
    where it is agreed that a foreign law offends public policy, it
    may still be applied in a limited context where the potential
    harm is minimal.” Wong, 39 Cal. 3d at 136. Put another
    way, the public policy exception codified at § 1716(c)(3) does
    not apply unless a foreign-country judgment or the law on
    which it is based is “so antagonistic to California [or federal]
    public policy interests as to preclude the extension of
    comity.” Crockford’s Club Ltd. v. Si–Ahmed, 
    203 Cal. App. 3d
     1402, 1406 (1988) (internal quotation marks omitted).21
    21
    The revised Uniform Foreign-Country M oney Judgment Act of 2005,
    on which the California statute is based, retained “the stringent test for
    finding a public policy violation applied by courts interpreting the
    [previous version of the] Act.” Uniform Foreign-Country Money
    Judgments Recognition Act, 13 U.L.A. pt. II, § 4, cmt. 8, at 28 (Supp.
    2011). According to that test, the commentary to the model Uniform Act
    explains, “[p]ublic policy is violated only if recognition or enforcement of
    the foreign country judgment would tend clearly to injure public health,
    the public morals, or the public confidence in the administration of law,
    OHNO V . YASUMA                                37
    In the context of an Arizona enforcement action,
    construing common law principles of international comity
    similar to those on which California’s Uniform Act is based,
    see Manco Contracting Co., 45 Cal. 4th at 198, we observed
    that “few judgments fall in the category of judgments that
    need not be recognized because they violate the public policy
    of the forum,” In re Hashim, 213 F.3d at 1172 (internal
    quotation marks omitted). “It has long been the law that
    unless a foreign country’s judgments are the result of
    outrageous departures from our own motions of ‘civilized
    jurisprudence,’ comity should not be refused.” British
    or would undermine that sense of security for individual rights, whether
    of personal liberty or of private property, which any citizen ought to feel.”
    Id. (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Restatement (Third) of
    Foreign Relations Law of the United States § 482 cmt. f (1987);
    Restatement (Second) of Conflict of Laws § 117 (1971).
    Our sister circuits have applied a similarly strict standard to the
    repugnancy exception of other states’ foreign judgment enforcement
    statutes. See Viewfinder, 489 F.3d at 479–80 (“The public policy inquiry
    rarely results in refusal to enforce a judgment unless it is inherently
    vicious, wicked or immoral, and shocking to the prevailing moral sense.”
    (internal quotation marks omitted)); Ackermann v. Levine, 
    788 F.2d 830
    ,
    841 (2d Cir. 1986) (describing the repugnancy standard as “high, and
    infrequently met,” applying only in “clear-cut” cases where the judgment
    or cause of action on which it is based is contrary to “‘fundamental
    notions of what is decent and just’” (quoting Tahan v. Hodgson, 
    662 F.2d 862
    , 864 (D.C. Cir. 1981))); Sw. Livestock & Trucking Co. v. Ramon, 
    169 F.3d 317
    , 321 (5th Cir. 1999) (noting that the “level of contravention of
    Texas law” has to be “high” for the court to deny recognition on public
    policy grounds); cf. Andes v. Versant Corp., 
    878 F.2d 147
    , 150 (4th Cir.
    1989) (holding, without expressly discussing repugnancy to public policy,
    that a court applying Maryland’s Uniform Foreign-Money Judgments Act
    would not give effect to an English rule of preclusion that is “so much at
    odds with normal American notions of litigation that no American
    jurisdiction would readily embrace it”).
    38                    OHNO V . YASUMA
    Midland Airways Ltd. v. Int’l Travel, Inc., 
    497 F.2d 869
    , 871
    (9th Cir. 1974) (quoting Hilton, 159 U.S. at 205).
    Simple inconsistency between American state or federal
    law and foreign law, then, does not render a foreign judgment
    unenforceable by reason of repugnancy. See Yahoo! II, 433
    F.3d at 1215 (plurality opinion). Foreign judgments are not
    to be “tried afresh” in U.S. courts, applying domestic
    concepts. See Hilton, 159 U.S. at 202–03. “We are not so
    provincial as to say that every solution of a problem is wrong
    because we deal with it otherwise at home.” Loucks ex rel.
    Loucks v. Standard Oil Co. of N.Y., 
    224 N.Y. 99
    , 111 (1918)
    (Cardozo, J.).
    Applying these principles, courts in other jurisdictions
    have declined to enforce foreign-country money judgments
    on grounds of repugnance to the public policy embodied in
    the First Amendment, but only where there were stark
    differences between foreign and domestic law. In Telnikoff
    v. Matusevitch, 
    347 Md. 561
     (1997), for example, Maryland’s
    high court declined to enforce an English libel judgment
    under principles of comity because English defamation law
    “is totally different” from Maryland defamation law “in
    virtually every significant respect” and “so contrary . . . to the
    policy of freedom of the press underlying Maryland law.” Id.
    at 598–99. A New York trial court similarly refused
    recognition of an English libel judgment on the ground that
    English libel standards are “antithetical to the protections
    afforded the press by the U.S. Constitution,” explaining that
    the presumptions and burdens of proof under English libel
    law are the reverse of those under American law, requiring
    media defendants to prove the truth of speech of public
    concern, rather obliging plaintiffs to demonstrate falsity.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                              39
    Bachchan v. India Abroad Publ’ns Inc., 
    585 N.Y.S.2d 661
    ,
    665 (1992) (emphasis added).22
    In Yahoo! I, the Northern District of California, in an
    opinion reversed on jurisdictional grounds, see Yahoo! II, 
    433 F.3d 1199
    , applied similar logic to that in Telnikoff and
    Bachchan and barred enforcement of a French injunction
    requiring the Internet company Yahoo! to block French users’
    access to Nazi-related website content. See Yahoo! I, 169
    F. Supp. 2d at 1184–85. The “content and viewpoint-based
    regulation” of Internet speech, the district court held, “clearly
    would be inconsistent with the First Amendment if mandated
    by a court in the United States.” Id. at 1192–93.
    22
    Federal law now controls domestic actions seeking recognition of
    foreign defamation judgments. In August 2010, Congress adopted the
    SPEECH Act (“Securing the Protection of our Enduring and Established
    Constitutional Heritage Act.”), Pub. L. No. 111-223, 124 Stat. 2380
    (2010), 28 U.S.C. §§ 4101–4105, effectively codifying the approach
    adopted in Telnikoff. The Act was prompted by a perceived increase in
    the frequency of foreign libel judgments inconsistent with the First
    Amendment, Pub. L. No. 111-223, § 2(5), and concern that these suits
    were “significantly chilling American free speech and restricting both
    domestic and worldwide access to important information.” S. Rep. No.
    111-224, at 2 (2010); see also Pub. L. No. 111-223, § 2(3). The new law
    makes foreign defamation judgments unenforceable in the United States
    unless it can be shown that such judgments satisfy the protections of
    freedom of speech and press guaranteed by both the First Amendment to
    the United States Constitution and the constitution of the state in which
    the domestic court is located. See 28 U.S.C. § 4102(a)(1). Notably, the
    SPEECH Act does not pertain to all foreign judgments allegedly
    inconsistent with any part of the First Amendment but focuses uniquely
    on defamation actions and the “First Amendment rights of American
    authors and publishers.” H.R. Rep. No. 111-154, at 5 (2009), reprinted in
    2010 U.S.C.C.A.N. 812, 816. California’s Uniform Act contains a similar
    special exception for foreign judgments rendered in defamation actions.
    See Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 1717(c).
    40                       OHNO V . YASUMA
    These cases do not suggest that a looser standard applies
    when the asserted repugnancy arises from an inconsistency
    with U.S. constitutional as opposed to statutory or common
    law principles. There is no California case so holding and no
    basis in the statutory language for such a conclusion. Rather,
    the cases underscore that only judgments presenting a direct
    and definite conflict with fundamental American
    constitutional principles will be denied recognition because
    repugnant.
    Such direct conflict is more apt to arise where the foreign-
    country judgment—or the law underlying it—does not
    incidentally or indirectly affect conduct that may be protected
    in the United States, but expressly targets such conduct.
    Telnikoff, Bachchan, and Yahoo! (I & II), all concerned
    challenges to enforcement of foreign-country judgments
    issued on the basis of foreign laws specific to speech or
    expression—such as libel, defamation and hate speech
    laws—not laws of general application, such as the Japanese
    tort laws underlying the judgment at issue here.23 The state
    courts in Telnikoff and Bachchan, and the district court in
    Yahoo! I, found repugnancy not based on the way that a
    particular foreign law was applied to the specific facts of the
    23
    The same distinction may be drawn between the present case and
    another circuit court opinion, involving enforcement of a French
    intellectual property and copyright judgment, targeting the publication of
    photographs. See Viewfinder, 
    489 F.3d 474
    . The district court had held
    the French judgment repugnant to public policy on the grounds that it was
    fundamentally at odds with principles of free expression protected by the
    U.S. and New York Constitutions. Sarl Louis Feraud Int’l v. Viewfinder
    Inc., 
    406 F. Supp. 2d 274
    , 285 (S.D.N.Y. 2005). The Second Circuit
    vacated and remanded for a more thorough comparison of French and U.S.
    copyright law and the “fair use” exception for First Amendment-protected
    activity. 489 F.3d at 484.
    OHNO V . YASUMA                              41
    case, but because of fundamental differences in the guiding
    legal doctrine applied or the procedures used in the foreign-
    country court as compared to domestic legal principles. The
    courts concluded that the foreign judgments in question were
    repugnant to public policy because they would
    unquestionably violate the Constitution were they issued here
    with respect to domestic activity; those conclusions were not
    fact-dependent. In other words, it was not debatable whether
    the orders, if domestically issued and applied, could have
    survived constitutional scrutiny.
    The situation with which we are faced here is quite
    otherwise. As will appear, it is highly debatable, at least,
    whether tort liability could be imposed on the Church for
    inducing Ohno’s Transfers, and the ultimate determination of
    that question would be highly fact-dependent. As the
    Japanese cause of action and judgment in this case are not
    antithetical to the Religion Clauses, they are not repugnant to
    California or U.S. public policy in the sense required by the
    exception in California’s Uniform Act.
    iii. Repugnancy of the Japanese Cause of Action and
    Claims
    In evaluating the repugnancy of a foreign cause of action,
    we compare the legal basis for liability and the plaintiff’s
    claims for relief in the foreign court with comparable grounds
    for suit in the United States. If American law recognizes
    generally parallel causes of action, the foreign cause of action
    cannot be said to be repugnant to American public policy.24
    24
    T his condition is sufficient but not necessary for non-repugnancy.
    There could be foreign causes of action that have no parallel in domestic
    law but are not repugnant to any aspect of domestic law either.
    42                    OHNO V . YASUMA
    This assessment does not depend on whether the
    standards for evaluating a cause of action or the elements
    required to state a claim are identical under domestic and
    foreign law.       Instead, we necessarily focus on the
    fundamentals of the cause of action underlying the foreign
    judgment and defenses thereto, “not the differences in the
    bodies of law” or in the way in which remedies are afforded.
    Soc’y of Lloyd’s v. Reinhart, 
    402 F.3d 982
    , 995 (10th Cir.
    2005); see also Soc’y of Lloyd’s v. Turner, 
    303 F.3d 325
    , 332
    (5th Cir. 2002). That a particular cause of action does not
    exist, or that a particular claim would not be cognizable, in
    California does not obligate us to refuse enforcement of a
    judgment, as long as the existence of the cause of action is
    not itself repugnant to California public policy. See
    Restatement (Third) of Foreign Relations Law of the United
    States § 482 cmt. f (1987); Restatement (Second) of Conflict
    of Laws § 117 (1971).
    Here, the Church was held liable under article 709 of the
    Japanese Civil Code, which provides that “[a] person who has
    intentionally or negligently infringe[d] any right of others, or
    legally protected interest of others, shall be liable to
    compensate any damages resulting in consequence.” Minpô
    [Civ. C.] art. 709 (Japan). There is nothing repugnant to
    California public policy about providing a damages remedy
    for intentional or negligent injury to others’ rights or
    protected interests. California tort law—and American tort
    law generally—does exactly that. See, e.g., Cal. Civ. Code
    § 1714. And, while a party’s status as a religious entity or
    believer may bear on certain relevant inquiries, such as
    whether the party may assert a Religion Clause defense, that
    does not render the party immune from liability under tort
    law. Cf. Viewfinder, 489 F.3d at 480–81 (explaining that an
    entity’s status as a news publication may bear on its assertion
    OHNO V . YASUMA                                43
    of a “fair use” defense but does not entitle it to immunity
    from liability under intellectual property laws). Accordingly,
    the general availability of a tort remedy in Japan for a suit
    against a church is not, on its face, repugnant to California
    public policy.
    We look next at the particular claims on which the tort
    cause of action was based. Ohno’s claims are analogous to
    actions for undue influence, fraud, negligent or intentional
    infliction of emotional distress, and unjust enrichment under
    California law. See Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1572 (fraud), 1575
    (undue influence); 1714 (liability for willful or negligent
    injury to others).25 The Church maintains that claims of
    undue influence, fraud, negligent or intentional infliction of
    emotion distress, or unjust enrichment are not cognizable in
    California if the defendants’ actions giving rise to liability
    were facially religiously motivated. At the level of generality
    at which this assertion is made, it is false.
    American courts can recognize tort liability for acts
    assertedly motivated by religion. The Religion Clauses do
    not bar tort claims against a religious entity or its members,
    so long as adjudicating the cause of action does not require a
    25
    The Supreme Court of California and California Courts of Appeal
    have recognized actions for relief under the equitable doctrine of unjust
    enrichment. See Ghirardo v. Antonioli, 
    14 Cal. 4th 39
     (1996) (recognizing
    a cause of action for unjust enrichment upon a showing that the defendant
    received benefit through another’s known mistake, fraud, coercion or
    other tortious conduct); see also Hernandez v. Lopez, 
    180 Cal. App. 4th 932
    , 938 (2009) (“The doctrine applies where plaintiffs, while having no
    enforceable contract, nonetheless have conferred a benefit on defendant
    which defendant has knowingly accepted under circumstances that make
    it inequitable for the defendant to retain the benefit without paying for its
    value.”).
    44                       OHNO V . YASUMA
    court to judge the validity of religious beliefs or interfere with
    ecclesiastical decisionmaking regarding self-governance or
    employment. See, e.g., United States v. Ballard, 
    322 U.S. 78
    ,
    86 (1944); Molko v. Holy Spirit Ass’n for Unification of
    World Christianity, 
    46 Cal. 3d 1092
    , 1115–16 (1988); Elvig
    v. Calvin Presbyterian Church, 
    375 F.3d 951
    , 956, 959–62
    (9th Cir. 2004) (citing Bollard v. Cal. Province of Soc’y of
    Jesus, 
    196 F.3d 940
    , 945–47 (9th Cir. 1999)).
    The Religion Clause protections “embrace[] two
    concepts—freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is
    absolute but, in the nature of things, the second cannot be.”
    Cantwell v. Connecticut, 
    310 U.S. 296
    , 303–04 (1940); see
    also Stormans, Inc. v. Selecky, 
    586 F.3d 1109
    , 1128 (9th Cir.
    2009); Molko, 46 Cal. 3d at 1112. Conduct, including
    speech-based conduct such as solicitation, “remains subject
    to regulation for the protection of society.” Cantwell, 310
    U.S. at 304. So recognizing, California courts have
    entertained claims of fraud, undue influence, and intentional
    infliction of emotional distress brought against religious
    entities by former members seeking recovery of donations
    and damages for harm. See, e.g., Molko, 
    46 Cal. 3d 1092
    ;
    Wollersheim v. Church of Scientology of Cal., 
    212 Cal. App. 3d
     872 (1989) (“Wollersheim I”), vacated and remanded on
    other grounds, 
    499 U.S. 914
     (1991), amended by 
    6 Cal. Rptr. 2d
     532 (Ct. App. 1992) (“Wollersheim II”).26 Religiously
    26
    The Supreme Court vacated and remanded Wollersheim I for
    reconsideration of the punitive damages award in light of Pacific Mutual
    Life Insurance Company v. Haslip, 
    499 U.S. 1
     (1991). See Wollersheim,
    
    499 U.S. 914
     (1991). On remand, Wollersheim II “incorporated intact and
    unaltered” the portion of Wollersheim I that “dealt exhaustively with the
    tort [and] freedom of religion” issues. Wollersheim II, 
    6 Cal. Rptr. 2d
     at
    534 n.1. The California Supreme Court subsequently granted review of
    Wollersheim II, see 
    10 Cal. Rptr. 2d 182
     (1992), but, “following the
    OHNO V . YASUMA                             45
    motivated gifts have been set aside on a strong showing of
    undue influence by religious advisors over the testamentary
    act. See Sunland Home Found., Inc. v. Bourquin (In re Estate
    of Bourquin), 
    161 Cal. App. 2d 289
    , 299–300 (1958).
    With respect to speech related to solicitation for a
    religious cause, there is no categorical bar under domestic
    law to a claim in tort. The state is “free to regulate the time
    and manner of solicitation generally, in the interest of public
    safety, peace, comfort or convenience.” Cantwell, 310 U.S.
    at 306–07. The preservation of this state regulatory authority
    is important, given that speech may be the vehicle through
    which undue influence is exerted, depending on the context
    and manner in which it is conveyed. See, e.g., Dovydenas v.
    The Bible Speaks (In re The Bible Speaks), 
    869 F.2d 628
    ,
    645–46 (1st Cir. 1989) (rejecting a church’s First Amendment
    defense against claims that it exerted undue influence to
    obtain gifts because the court’s findings rested on the
    church’s secular statements and actions).
    There are, to be sure, definite limitations on what
    constitutes under California law a cognizable tort claim
    arising from facially religious conduct: No cause of action
    will be recognized where a plaintiff challenges the verity of
    religious statements or beliefs. “It is settled that inquiry into
    the truth or falsity of religious beliefs is foreclosed by
    constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and that the
    United States Supreme Court’s decision in TXO Production Corp. v.
    Alliance Resource Corp., 
    509 U.S. 443
     (1993), the California Supreme
    Court dismissed its prior grant of review.” Church of Scientology v.
    Wollersheim, 
    42 Cal. App. 4th 628
    , 637 (1996).             Accordingly,
    Wollersheim II and Wollersheim I— to the extent the earlier opinion was
    incorporated into the later one—remain good law.
    46                    OHNO V . YASUMA
    courts may ask only whether the proponent of a particular
    religion holds his beliefs honestly and in good faith.”
    Hallinan v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of S.F. (In re Estate
    of Supple), 
    247 Cal. App. 2d 410
    , 414 (1966) (refusing to
    pass on the truth of religious statements alleged to have
    unduly influenced a testator’s actions). And the California
    Court of Appeal has refused to entertain actions that require
    the court to determine whether the actions of an individual
    not party to the lawsuit were induced by faith or coercive
    persuasion. Katz v. Superior Court, 
    73 Cal. App. 3d 952
    (1977) (overturning conservatorship orders granted to parents
    of members of the Unification Church who claimed their
    children were brainwashed).
    Similarly, under the Religion Clauses, claims of
    intentional infliction of emotional distress against churches or
    other religious entities “based merely on threats of divine
    retribution” will not be allowed to proceed, Molko, 46 Cal. 3d
    at 1120, because such threats, like “‘hell fire and damnation’”
    preaching, are protected religious speech and cannot form the
    basis of a claim for emotional distress, Wollersheim I, 
    212 Cal. App. 3d
     at 892–93. Under California law, suits alleging
    purely emotional injury due to such religious expression are
    not permitted, given that “[i]t is one of the functions of many
    religions to ‘afflict the comfortable.’” Id. at 892. And
    California courts have declined to recognize a cause of action
    for negligent infliction of emotional distress as a result of
    religiously motivated conduct because “religious
    organizations owe no duty to members or former members
    with respect to these forms of [emotional] injury.” Id. at 901.
    As noted above, the Japanese law under which the Church
    was sued permits liability for the infringement of another’s
    rights based either on an intentional or negligent state of
    OHNO V . YASUMA                          47
    mind. See Minpô [Civ. C.] art. 709 (Japan). To the extent
    that Ohno’s claim amounted to one for merely negligent
    infliction of emotional distress as a result of facially religious
    conduct, it may not have been cognizable under California
    law. But California courts have pronounced no bar to claims
    for negligent infliction of economic injury, and Ohno clearly
    asserted pecuniary losses as well as pain and suffering.
    Moreover, the reason the California Court of Appeal has
    given for barring recovery from religious entities for the
    negligent infliction of emotional distress is not that such
    liability necessarily offends the Religion Clauses, but rather
    that religious organizations have no duty of care to avoid
    causing their members emotional injury. See Wollersheim I,
    
    212 Cal. App. 3d
     at 900–01. If such a duty of care exists
    under Japanese law, this difference from California law does
    not denote repugnance to a public policy embodied in the
    Religion Clauses.
    Ohno’s claims, which relate to economic as well as
    emotional injury, do not directly impugn the Church’s
    religious beliefs or teachings. The Japanese trial court
    rejected the Church’s argument that the lawsuit was a purely
    religious dispute and explicitly disavowed the notion that it
    was scrutinizing the Church’s beliefs, stating that there was
    no “need to make a judgment about the religious teaching
    itself, in order to make a determination about the validity of
    [Ohno’s] claim.”       The court further recognized that
    solicitation of donations by religious entities is legal and
    protected from liability in Japan, so long as the methods used
    are within the scope of what is “socially appropriate.” Where
    inducement of donations incite anxiety, confusion, or terror,
    however, such that the donation cannot be considered to be
    based on the individual’s free will, then a tort can be
    established. It was within these parameters that the Japanese
    48                   OHNO V . YASUMA
    court adjudicated Ohno’s claims. Far from being so divergent
    from domestic legal principles as to be repugnant to public
    policy, the causes of action underlying the Japanese judgment
    were generally similar to, although possibly broader than,
    those that would be cognizable under California law.
    In other words, had Ohno alleged that she had been
    tortiously induced to donate hundreds of thousands of dollars
    to a church in California, she could have sued the religious
    entity or its officers here, too. Whether she would prevail on
    the particular facts of her case or whether the defendants
    could successfully raise constitutional defenses to any of her
    claims is a separate question, which we address next. We are
    not persuaded that the cause of action underlying the
    Japanese judgment is antithetical to California public policy
    regarding religious freedom.
    iv. Repugnancy of the Japanese Judgment
    We turn next to the repugnancy of the judgment itself.
    The Church contends that the judgment is repugnant to public
    policy because it is incompatible with the Religion Clauses of
    the California and Federal Constitutions in two respects:
    First, the judgment necessarily involved an assessment by the
    court of the validity of the Church’s religious teachings; and,
    second, the imposition of tort liability placed a burden on the
    Church’s exercise of its religion without a compelling state
    interest in doing so. As will appear, the first contention is
    unsupported in the record. And the second cannot be grounds
    for declaring the judgment repugnant to public policy
    precisely because it presents a close question under California
    and federal law. In this context, where a repugnancy
    determination hinges on a definitive finding of conflict
    OHNO V . YASUMA                        49
    between foreign and domestic law, the debatability of the
    validity of the Church’s legal position is its downfall.
    a.
    Ohno’s tort suit rests largely on fact-bound
    determinations regarding the nature of the actions that gave
    rise to her asserted injuries. Ohno contends that “the actual
    [Japanese] judgment was manifestly and explicitly concerned
    with conduct—the coercion, the overpowering of [her] own
    will, the deprivation of medications, the destruction of family
    relations, and the targeted fleecing of [her] assets.” The
    Church, however, characterizes the Japanese judgment as
    imposing liability for Ohno’s reactions to its “protected
    religious speech about the consequences of disobedience to
    God’s commandments.”
    By its plain language, the Japanese judgment does appear
    to attach liability to the speech of a religious entity: The
    illegal act is described as “inducement” or “solicitation,”
    based on “fraudulent and intimidating statements.” But the
    Japanese trial court neither limited its focus to speech that
    was religious in nature nor rested its ruling on findings
    regarding the content of any religious speech at issue. The
    court made findings related to the Church’s communications
    with Ohno regarding her living situation, contact with her
    family, and medical care, as well as pressure exerted on her
    to transfer funds to the Church, any or all of which may have
    been secular in nature. And while the judgment recounts the
    substance of some of the Church’s teachings, the court’s
    language suggests that it attributed the harms Ohno suffered
    not to the content of the Church’s threats, but to the context
    in which they were made—that Ohno was isolated from her
    family, not taking medication for her depression, and
    50                   OHNO V . YASUMA
    suffering from general ataxia. The judgment states that the
    Church’s conduct in soliciting money from Ohno, who was
    “under such a psychological condition,” “incite[d] anxiety”
    and “cause[d] terror,” such that the Transfers cannot be said
    to have been made of Ohno’s free will. The record does not
    support an inference that the Japanese court imposed liability
    because of the “specific motivating ideology,” opinion, or
    perspective behind the Church’s communication with Ohno,
    Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Va., 
    515 U.S. 819
    , 829 (1995), or a finding regarding the truth or falsity of
    the Church’s religious beliefs, see Ballard, 322 U.S. at 87–88.
    While the facts of Ohno’s case may not be as egregious
    as those in Wollersheim and Molko, where the plaintiffs
    alleged they were physically coerced and deceived as to the
    identity of the church they were joining, the difference is a
    matter of degree, not kind. To be sure, California tort law
    would require proof of elements not found in the Japanese
    judgment. The tort of fraud under California law, for
    example, requires intent to defraud. See Molko, 46 Cal. 3d at
    1108; Collins v. eMachines, Inc., 
    202 Cal. App. 4th 249
    , 259
    (2011). Similarly, to sustain a claim of intentional infliction
    of emotional distress in California, a plaintiff must show
    intent to cause, or reckless disregard for, emotional injury.
    Wollersheim I, 
    212 Cal. App. 3d
     at 881. And under
    California law, “undue influence” consists in “the use, by one
    in whom a confidence is reposed by another, or who holds a
    real or apparent authority over him, of such confidence or
    authority for the purpose of obtaining an unfair advantage
    over him” or “taking an unfair advantage of another’s
    weakness of mind.” Cal. Civ. Code § 1575(1), (2) (emphasis
    added).
    OHNO V . YASUMA                          51
    The Japanese trial court’s judgment does not clearly
    establish either knowledge or intent on the part of Yasuma or
    Saints of Glory to “incite anxiety” or “cause terror.” Facts in
    the record such as Yasuma’s discouragement of the use of
    medication, Ohno’s regular attendance at Church services,
    and the Church’s oversight of her living situation permit an
    inference that Defendants were aware of Ohno’s vulnerable
    mental and physical condition, and knew or should have
    known of the likelihood of causing her emotional harm or
    exerting undue influence. But the record reflects no discrete
    findings regarding the Church’s knowledge of Ohno’s
    depression and ataxia, whether Yasuma held a position of
    confidence and authority over Ohno, and whether the Church
    intended to take advantage of her.
    For reasons we have surveyed, however, that the Japanese
    court did not find all the requisite elements of the causes of
    action for undue influence, fraud, or infliction of emotional
    distress under California law does not make the judgment
    antithetical to the basic precepts of tort law in this country, or
    to constitutional principles. Enforcing a defamation or libel
    judgment absent a finding of malice stands in direct tension
    with constitutional principles, because it punishes speech on
    the basis of content. In contrast, imposing tort liability absent
    a finding of intent, for actions that may or may not constitute
    protected religious conduct, does not give rise to the same
    stark clash of legal principles.
    b.
    Even if a court in the United States could find the
    requisite elements of Ohno’s tort claims, the Church
    maintains, the Religion Clauses would bar recovery. But the
    record does not show that the Church has so clearly made out
    52                         OHNO V . YASUMA
    a viable Free Exercise defense as to render the Japanese
    judgment antithetical to the fundamental principles
    underlying American protection of freedom of religion.
    To invoke the protection of the Religion Clauses against
    a judgment in tort, the Church would have to demonstrate that
    imposing liability in damages substantially burdened its
    sincerely held religious beliefs or practices and that the
    state’s justifications for that burden did not outweigh any
    infringement on the Church’s religious freedom, under the
    applicable standard of scrutiny.27 See Hernandez v. Comm’r,
    
    490 U.S. 680
    , 699 (1989) (“The free exercise inquiry asks
    whether government has placed a substantial burden on the
    observation of a central religious belief or practice and, if so,
    whether a compelling governmental interest justifies the
    27
    A “valid and neutral [state] law of general applicability,” such as a
    domestic tort judgment similar to the Japanese judgment at issue here, that
    has the incidental effect of burdening the free exercise of religion no
    longer must withstand the “compelling interest” test articulated in
    Sherbert v. Verner, 
    374 U.S. 398
    , 403 (1963), to survive constitutional
    scrutiny. Emp’t Div. v. Smith, 
    494 U.S. 872
    , 879, 885 (1990); accord
    Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 
    508 U.S. 520
    , 531
    (1993). “[A] religious objector has no federal constitutional right to an
    exemption from a neutral and valid [state] law of general applicability on
    the ground that compliance with that law is contrary to the objector’s
    religious beliefs.” N. Coast Women’s Care Med. Grp., Inc. v. San Diego
    Cnty. Superior Court, 
    44 Cal. 4th 1145
    , 1155 (2008) (emphasis omitted).
    As we explain below, however, we presume for purposes of our analysis
    that the tort judgment at issue here, had it been rendered by a domestic
    court, would have to survive strict scrutiny. “Under strict scrutiny, ‘a law
    could not be applied in a manner that substantially burden[s] a religious
    belief or practice unless the state show[s] that the law represent[s] the least
    restrictive means of achieving a compelling interest.’” Id. at 1158
    (alterations in original) (quoting Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc. v.
    Superior Court, 
    32 Cal. 4th 527
    , 562 (2004)).
    OHNO V . YASUMA                        53
    burden.”); Smith v. Fair Emp’t & Hous. Comm’n, 
    12 Cal. 4th 1143
    , 1166–67 (1996).
    The threshold requirement for a defense based on the
    Religion Clauses is to show that one sincerely holds beliefs
    as religious views. Malik v. Brown, 
    16 F.3d 330
    , 333 (9th
    Cir. 1994). Courts typically give credence to assertions of
    sincerely held religious beliefs in absence of any challenge to
    their sincerity or religious motives, and so long as they are
    not “so bizarre, so clearly nonreligious in motivation, as not
    to be entitled to protection under the Free Exercise Clause.”
    Thomas v. Review Bd. of Ind. Emp’t Sec. Div., 
    450 U.S. 707
    ,
    715–16 (1981); Shakur v. Schriro, 
    514 F.3d 878
    , 885 (9th Cir.
    2008) (taking the plaintiff’s assertion that his dietary needs
    were religiously motivated as prima facie evidence of sincere
    religious beliefs); Malik, 16 F.3d at 333 (giving credence to
    the plaintiff’s testimony regarding the reasons for his
    adoption of a Muslim name in absence of anything in the
    record challenging the sincerity of his religious beliefs).
    Construing the facts in the light most favorable to the Church,
    as we must on review of summary judgment, we presume that
    their actions were based on sincerely held religious beliefs.
    Next, the Church would have to show that the order to
    pay damages to Ohno imposed a “substantial or, in other
    words, legally significant,” Smith v. Fair Emp’t & Hous.
    Comm’n, 12 Cal. 4th at 1166–67, burden on its exercise of
    religion. “[A] substantial burden must place more than an
    inconvenience on religious exercise”; it must have a
    “tendency to coerce individuals into acting contrary to their
    religious beliefs” or “exert[] substantial pressure on an
    adherent to modify his behavior and to violate his beliefs.”
    Guru Nanak Sikh Soc’y of Yuba City v. Cnty. of Sutter, 456
    54                   OHNO V . YASUMA
    F.3d 978, 988 (9th Cir. 2006) (internal quotation marks
    omitted).
    To be sure, “the burden of tort damages is direct.” Paul,
    819 F.2d at 881. While a tort damages judgment does not
    criminalize the conduct for which liability is imposed, it
    effectively makes the challenged actions “unlawful.” Id.
    Here, however, it is questionable whether the Church
    could demonstrate that the burden imposed infringes on
    protected religious beliefs, not merely on conduct
    accompanied by such beliefs. Employment Division v. Smith,
    
    494 U.S. 872
     (1990), rejected the notion that “when otherwise
    prohibitable conduct is accompanied by religious convictions,
    not only the convictions but the conduct itself must be free
    from governmental regulation.” Id. at 882. Accordingly, that
    the Church’s conduct may have been motivated by religious
    convictions does not shield it from tort liability for injuries
    engendered by its actions.
    Even if we presume that the Church could show the
    imposition of tort liability to be a substantial burden on its
    religious exercise, it would still have to surmount a final
    hurdle: proving that its burden outweighed the governmental
    interest in the regulation of tortious activity. Again,
    construing the facts in favor of the Church, we presume that
    strict scrutiny would apply and the judgment could be upheld
    only upon demonstration that enforcement of tort law serves
    a compelling state interest. Paul, 819 F.2d at 882–83 & n.6
    (citing Sherbert v. Verner, 
    374 U.S. 398
    , 403 (1963)). This
    presumption is appropriate, as a law of general application
    that implicates “‘the Free Exercise Clause in conjunction with
    other constitutional protections, such as freedom of speech
    and of the press’” remains subject to strict scrutiny. San Jose
    OHNO V . YASUMA                               55
    Christian Coll. v. City of Morgan Hill, 
    360 F.3d 1024
    , 1031
    (9th Cir. 2004) (quoting Smith, 494 U.S. at 881). Because the
    Church contends that the imposition of tort liability here
    burdens its religious speech, this case might qualify as a
    “‘hybrid’” one in an American court, triggering strict scrutiny
    under federal constitutional law. See id. at 1031 (quoting
    Miller v. Reed, 
    176 F.3d 1202
    , 1204 (9th Cir. 1999)).28
    But we are not persuaded that a California court could not
    conclude that “the state’s interest in allowing tort liability” as
    a means of protecting vulnerable individuals against undue
    influence, abuse of confidence for pecuniary gain, and fraud
    is compelling enough “to outweigh any burden” imposed on
    the Church’s action. See Molko, 46 Cal. 3d at 1117 (citing
    Wisconsin v. Yoder, 
    406 U.S. 205
    , 221 (1972)). Nor are we
    persuaded that a California court would not deem tort law the
    least restrictive means of pursuing the state’s compelling
    interests. This result is particularly likely given that the
    religious expression at issue here was targeted at Ohno
    specifically, rather than a more general audience. Holding
    the Church liable in this case may discourage it from
    28
    The California Supreme Court has expressed skepticism about the
    notion that a “hybrid claim” implicating more than one constitutional right
    is entitled to heightened scrutiny under the Federal Constitution. See
    N. Coast Women’s Care Med. Grp., Inc., 44 Cal. 4th at 1156–57.
    Regardless, federal law does not control California’s interpretation of the
    State Constitution. The California Supreme Court has not yet determined
    what standard should apply under the California Constitution to a valid,
    neutral state law of general applicability that burdens religious exercise.
    See id. at 1158. W hatever the California standard might be, it would not
    be stricter than strict scrutiny. Id. at 1159–60 (citing Catholic Charities
    of Sacramento, Inc., 32 Cal. 4th at 559, 562). For our purposes, we assume
    that a tort judgment imposing liability for facially religious conduct would
    need to survive strict scrutiny under either the California or the Federal
    Constitution, or both.
    56                       OHNO V . YASUMA
    soliciting funds in the manner pursued here, from individuals
    in a comparable psychological or medical state, or from
    otherwise exerting undue influence to obtain donations in the
    future. It does not, however, substantially inhibit Yasuma
    and Saints of Glory from practicing their religion or
    disseminating their teachings.
    Construing the facts in the Church’s favor, Ohno may
    well have failed to prevail in a California court on all her
    claims. But it is far from “clear-cut,” Ackermann v. Levine,
    
    788 F.2d 830
    , 841 (2d Cir. 1986), and so certainly debatable,
    whether the Religion Clauses would bar an American court
    from issuing the same judgment had the suit been brought
    here. Moreover, as we cannot say, on the record before us,
    that a court in this country could not have rendered the
    judgment for Ohno had the events occurred entirely within
    the United States, then we certainly cannot conclude that a
    domestic court could not have issued the judgment where, as
    here, the challenged conduct was directed at an individual in
    Japan.
    In sum, the Japanese award cannot be said to fall into the
    narrow class of judgments that must be refused enforcement
    because repugnant to public policy. Neither the law applied
    nor the particular judgment issued is “so antagonistic” to the
    public policy embodied in the Religion Clauses, Crockford’s
    Club Ltd., 
    203 Cal. App. 3d
     at 1406, or so “inherently
    vicious, wicked or immoral, and shocking to the prevailing
    moral sense,” Viewfinder, 489 F.3d at 479–80, as to preclude
    recognition.29
    29
    W e likewise reject the Church’s argument that the district court
    abused its discretion in denying the Church’s motion for a continuance for
    the purpose of developing evidence. The Church’s motion under former
    OHNO V . YASUMA                                57
    Conclusion
    The roots of California’s Uniform Act and its
    presumption that foreign-country money judgments are
    enforceable lie in principles of international comity:
    When an action is brought in a court of
    this country, by a citizen of a foreign country
    against one of our own citizens, to recover a
    sum of money adjudged by a court of that
    country to be due from the defendant to the
    plaintiff, and the foreign judgment appears to
    have been rendered by a competent court,
    having jurisdiction of the cause and of the
    parties, and upon due allegations and proofs,
    and opportunity to defend against them, and
    its proceedings are according to the course of
    a civilized jurisprudence, and are stated in a
    clear and formal record, the judgment is prima
    facie evidence, at least, of the truth of the
    matter adjudged; and it should be held
    conclusive upon the merits tried in the foreign
    Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(f) was entirely lacking in specificity.
    As the district court noted, given that “[the Church] vigorously litigated
    the underlying proceedings in Japan, and even appealed the adverse
    judgment,” counsel should have been able to identify with greater
    particularity what type of evidence they believed existed in the Japanese
    court records that could bolster their arguments. “[I]t is not enough to rely
    on vague assertions that discovery will produce needed, but unspecified,
    facts.” Stearns Airport Equip. Co. v. FMC Corp., 
    170 F.3d 518
    , 535 (5th
    Cir. 1999) (internal quotation marks omitted). The evidence sought in a
    Rule 56(f) motion must be more than the object of mere speculation.
    M argolis v. Ryan, 
    140 F.3d 850
    , 854 (9th Cir. 1998); see also Family
    Home & Fin. Ctr., Inc. v. Fed. Home Loan Mortg. Corp., 
    525 F.3d 822
    ,
    827 (9th Cir. 2008). The Rule 56(f) motion was therefore properly denied.
    58                   OHNO V . YASUMA
    court, unless some special ground is shown
    for impeaching the judgment, as by showing
    that it was affected by fraud or prejudice, or
    that by the principles of international law, and
    by the comity of our own country, it should
    not be given full credit and effect.
    Hilton, 159 U.S. at 205–06.        The Church has not
    demonstrated any such ground for non-recognition here.
    Enforcement, by the district court, of the Japanese
    damages award did not render the imposition of tort
    liability domestic state action, subject to constitutional
    constraints. Thus, the district court’s order did not directly
    violate the Federal or California Constitution. Nor is the
    Japanese judgment or the underlying cause of action so
    antithetical to the protections afforded by the Religion
    Clauses as to permit—let alone require—non-recognition
    under California’s Uniform Act by reason of repugnancy to
    public policy. For the foregoing reasons, the judgment of the
    district court is
    AFFIRMED.
    

Document Info

Docket Number: 11-55081

Citation Numbers: 723 F.3d 984, 2013 U.S. App. LEXIS 13496, 2013 WL 3306351

Judges: Pregerson, Graber, Berzon

Filed Date: 7/2/2013

Precedential Status: Precedential

Modified Date: 10/19/2024

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