Opinion ID: 2586444
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Plain Meaning of Section 13-52-102(1) When Read in Light of the Uniform Act and C.R.C.P. 54(h)

Text: C.R.C.P. 54(h) provides the procedures with which judgment creditors must comply in order to revive judgments. It states that, to revive a judgment, a judgment creditor must file a motion alleging the date of the original judgment and the amount of the original judgment that remains unsatisfied. Id. The debtor then has ten days to show cause why the judgment should not be revived. Id. If the debtor answers, any issues are to be resolved by the trial court. Id. A revived judgment must be entered within twenty years after the entry of the judgment which it revives, and may be enforced and made a lien in the same manner and for like period as the original judgment. Id. If a judgment is revived before the expiration of a judgment lien created by the original judgment, the filing of the transcript of the entry of revivor in the register of actions with the clerk and recorder of the appropriate county before the expiration of such lien shall continue that lien for the same period from the entry of the revived judgment as is provided for original judgments. Id. By its terms, the Uniform Act applies Colorado judgment procedures to foreign judgments filed in the state. Section 13-53-103 states that a foreign judgment filed in Colorado has the same effect and is subject to the same procedures, defenses, and proceedings for reopening, vacating, or staying as a judgment of a Colorado court, and may be enforced or satisfied in like manner. As pertinent to the present case, foreign judgments domesticated in Colorado are (1) subject to the same procedures as judgments originating from Colorado courts; and (2) subject to the same proceedings ... for reopening as judgments of Colorado courts. Black's Law Dictionary defines the word procedure expansively to mean a specific method or course of action and the judicial rule or manner for carrying on a civil lawsuit or a criminal prosecution. Black's Law Dictionary 1221 (7th ed. 1999). Generally, a court's procedures define the parameters of the proceedings and the manner and means by which parties must comply in order to prosecute or defend against a suit. See Guaranty Trust Co. of N.Y. v. York, 326 U.S. 99, 109, 65 S.Ct. 1464, 89 L.Ed. 2079 (1945). Accordingly, a literal reading of section 13-53-103's statement that judgments domesticated under the Uniform Act are subject to the same procedures as judgments originally entered by Colorado courts suggests that all rules related to the manner and means by which courts of this state conduct proceedings related to the entry of judgments apply to judgments domesticated under the Uniform Act. The provision of section 13-53-103 stating that judgments domesticated in Colorado are subject to the same proceedings ... for reopening as judgments originating from Colorado courts is yet more specific to the issue of revival. Black's Law Dictionary defines the word revive to mean restoration to current use or operation; especially the act of restoring the validity or legal force of a ... dormant judgment. Black's Law Dictionary 1321 (7th ed.1999). Black's Law Dictionary does not define the term reopen; however, New Webster's Dictionary defines the term to mean to open again and to revive. New Webster's Dictionary 844 (1st ed. 1992). Courts have used the terms synonymously. See, e.g., O'Neill v. Simpson, 958 P.2d 1121 (Colo.1998); Tietsworth v. Harley-Davidson, Inc., 303 Wis.2d 94, 735 N.W.2d 418 (2007). Under section 13-52-102(1), in order to extend a judgment lien, creditors must revive the judgment as provided by law. C.R.C.P. 54(h) provides the procedures for reviving a judgment. Therefore, in order to extend a judgment lien predicated upon a judgment originally issued by a Colorado court, creditors must revive the judgment under C.R.C.P. 54(h) and then comply with the lien extension requirements of section 13-52-102(1). Because a foreign judgment domesticated in Colorado is subject to the same proceedings for ... reopening as a judgment originating from a Colorado court, in order to extend a judgment lien predicated upon a domesticated foreign judgment, the creditor must comply with the same revival requirements as he would had the judgment originated from a Colorado court. Therefore, in the context of foreign judgments domesticated in Colorado, section 13-52-102(1)'s requirement that the underlying judgment must be revived as provided by law means the same thing as it does in the context of judgments originating from Colorado courts. However, one additional step must be performed that is not required for judgment liens predicated on judgments originating from Colorado courtsthe original foreign judgment must be revived in the jurisdiction that originally issued the judgment. In Baum v. Baum, 820 P.2d at 1123, the court of appeals held that, in the context of domesticated foreign judgments, the six-year judgment lien period begins to run from the date the foreign court issued the original judgment. [3] Therefore, although neither section 13-52-102(1) nor any provision of the Uniform Act specifically requires revival of the foreign judgment in the foreign jurisdiction, because of Baum's holding that the timing of the judgment lien period is based on the underlying foreign judgment, a creditor seeking to revive a Colorado judgment lien predicated upon a foreign judgment domesticated in Colorado must first revive the underlying foreign judgment in the foreign jurisdiction. Consequently, in order to revive a foreign judgment domesticated in Colorado as provided by law, the foreign judgment must first be revived in the jurisdiction that originally issued the judgment. Then, the domesticated foreign judgment must be revived in Colorado pursuant to C.R.C.P. 54(h). Once the foreign judgment is so revived, the creditor must comply with the remainder of section 13-52-102(1) by filing a transcript of the judgment record of such revived judgment in the same county in which the transcript of the original judgment was recorded. In sum, when section 13-53-103 is read in light of section 13-52-102 and C.R.C.P. 54(h), the plain language of the statute requires that a creditor seeking to extend a judgment lien based upon a domesticated foreign judgment must comply with C.R.C.P. 54(h) by reviving the domesticated foreign judgment in Colorado and then filing a transcript of the revived judgment record in the same county where lien was originally filed.