Bezdikian

Appellant Manco Contracting Co. (W.L.L.) ("Manco") sued respondent Kirkor Bezdikian ("Bezdikian") in Los Angeles Superior Court to domesticate a multimillion dollar judgment Manco had obtained against Bezdikian in Qatar, a Persian Gulf emirate. The trial court granted summary judgment for defendant Kirkor Bezdikian based on a four-year statute of limitations. Manco contends that no statute of limitations applies to the judgment of a foreign county; if a statute of limitations applies, it would be 10 years, the same applicable to a sister state judgment; and even assuming the four-year statute of limitations applied, this lawsuit had been timely filed because the Qatar judgment became final after appeal on May 23, 2000, less than four years before the filing of this lawsuit on May 20, 2004.

Manco had obtained a multi-million dollar judgment against Bezdikian in Qatar in November 1997. Bezdikian appealed and then left the country, eventually residing in California. His civil appeal was stayed while he was criminally prosecuted in Qatar; the stay was lifted when his conviction was affirmed. On May 23, 2000, the Qatari appellate court amended the appealed civil judgment…