Opinion ID: 2586444
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Domestication of Foreign Judgments

Text: Under the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution, Colorado courts have always enforced judgments rendered in foreign jurisdictions subject to our courts' satisfaction that the judgments were duly rendered. However, before the enactment of the Uniform Act in 1969, the only method available to foreign judgment creditors seeking to enforce foreign judgments in Colorado was to commence a civil action by filing a complaint in a Colorado court asserting the existence, details, and enforceability of the foreign judgment. Hunter Technology, Inc. v. Scott, 701 P.2d 645 (Colo.App. 1985). The civil action was then subject to the same procedural requirements as all civil actions in the state of Colorado. Id. However, in 1969, Colorado promulgated the Uniform Act in order to streamline the process by which foreign judgments could be enforced in Colorado. Griggs v. Gibson, 754 P.2d 783, 784 (Colo.App.1988). The Uniform Act does not supplant the common law means of enforcing foreign judgments through the initiation of a civil action. A judgment creditor may still enforce a foreign judgment in Colorado by initiating a civil action in this state and requesting the court to enter the foreign judgment in Colorado. § 13-53-107. However, the Uniform Act provides an alternative, simplified method for domesticating foreign judgments in Colorado. Under the Uniform Act, a judgment creditor can file a properly authenticated foreign judgment with the office of the clerk of any court of this state which would have had jurisdiction over the original action had it been commenced in this state. § 13-53-103. Once the foreign judgment has been properly filed, a transcript of judgment record issues and the judgment has the same effect and is subject to the same procedures, defenses, and proceedings for reopening, vacating, or staying as a judgment of the court of this state in which filed and may be enforced or satisfied in like manner. Id.