Yakovlev

*218 *194 Plaintiff AO Alpha Bank (Alpha Bank) initiated this lawsuit pursuant to the Uniform Foreign-Country Money Judgments Act (Recognition Act; Code Civ. Proc., §§ 1713 - 1725 ) 1 to recognize a Russian judgment against defendant Oleg Nikolaevich Yakovlev. Yakovlev moved for summary judgment, arguing the judgment could not be recognized because (1) the Russian court lacked personal jurisdiction; (2) he did not receive notice of the Russian proceeding in sufficient time to enable a defense; and (3) the Russian court proceeding was incompatible with due process. (§ 1716, subd (b)(2), former subd. (c)(1), now subd. (c)(1)(A) & former subd. (c)(8), *195 now subd. (c)(1)(G).) 2 His central premise was that service of process in the Russian proceedings was ineffective. The trial court agreed and denied recognition of the Russian judgment on personal jurisdiction grounds. It granted Yakovlev's motion for summary judgment and denied Alpha Bank's cross-motion for summary judgment.

We reverse. As we explain, due process does not require actual notice; it requires only a method of service "reasonably calculated" to impart actual notice under the circumstances of the case. ( Mullane v.…