Opinion ID: 1953390
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: mack trucks' lien

Text: The third assignment of error rests on the district court's conclusion that Mack Trucks' lien had been destroyed because its execution had not been levied thereon for a period of more than 5 years. Neb.Rev.Stat. § 25-2721 (Reissue 1995) provides: (2) Any person having a judgment rendered by a county court may cause a transcript thereof to be filed in the office of the clerk of the district court in any county of this state. When the transcript is so filed and entered upon the judgment record, such judgment shall be a lien on real estate in the county where the same is filed.... Neb.Rev.Stat. § 25-1515 (Reissue 1995) provides: If execution shall not be sued out within five years from the date of any judgment that now is or may hereafter be rendered in any court of record in this state, or if five years shall have intervened between the date of the last execution issued on such judgment and the time of suing out another writ of execution thereon, such judgment, and all taxable costs in the action in which such judgment was obtained, shall become dormant, and shall cease to operate as a lien on the estate of the judgment debtor. We have held that a judgment lien is created by statute, and is destroyed by statute if an execution thereon is not taken out within five years from the date of the judgment, or if five years shall have intervened between the date of the last execution issued on such judgment and the time of taking out of another execution thereon. If execution is not taken out in the time limited by the statute, the judgment becomes dormant, and the judgment lien is destroyed.... Glissmann v. Happy Hollow Club, 132 Neb. 223, 226, 271 N.W. 431, 432 (1937), quoting Holmes v. Dovey, 64 Neb. 122, 89 N.W. 631 (1902). The counterclaim and cross-claim filed by Mack Trucks did not recite the date of the last execution on the judgment, and, thus, it was not apparent on the face of the pleading that the lien had become dormant. Section 25-1515 is a statute of limitations, Reed v. Occidental Bldg. & Loan Ass'n., 122 Neb. 817, 241 N.W. 769 (1932), which issue neither the county, Kizzier Realty, nor any of the various other defendants raised in any way. When it is not apparent from the face of the initiating pleading that the action is barred by the statute of limitations, the period of limitations is an affirmative defense which must be raised in the responsive pleading. See Rosberg v. Lingenfelter, 246 Neb. 85, 516 N.W.2d 625 (1994). The purpose of pleadings is to frame the issues upon which a cause is to be tried, and the issues in a given case will be limited to those which are pleaded. Bakody Homes & Dev. v. City of Omaha, 246 Neb. 1, 516 N.W.2d 244 (1994); Schmidt v. Omaha Pub. Power Dist, 245 Neb. 776, 515 N.W.2d 756 (1994); Circle 76 Fertilizer v. Nelsen, 219 Neb. 661, 365 N.W.2d 460 (1985). The failure to raise the issue of the possible dormancy of Mack Trucks' lien amounts to an admission that the lien was valid. See Circle 76 Fertilizer, supra . Mack Trucks' burden in this case was to prove each element of its counterclaim and cross-claim which was not expressly or impliedly admitted by the other parties. As the limitations issue had not been raised, there was no need for Mack Trucks to disprove the dormancy of its lien. See id. The district court thus erred as a matter of law in ruling on an issue not presented by the pleadings and finding Mack Trucks' lien to be dormant.