Court Opinion

ID: 9561871
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 18:17:52.157661+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:13:08.426315
License: Public Domain

Callow, J.
(concurring in the result)—I concur in the result.
An acknowledgment in writing by the debtor of the existence of a valid debt extends the running of the statutory period during which payment of the debt may be enforced. Strong v. Sunset Copper Co., 9 Wn.2d 214, 114 P.2d 526, 135 A.L.R. 423 (1941); Burnham v. Burnham, 18 Wn. App. 1, 567 P.2d 242 (1977). The running of the statute of limitations does not wipe out a debt, but simply bars enforcement of the remedy for the recovery of the debt. Lombardo v. Mottola, 18 Wn. App. 227, 566 P.2d 1273 (1977). Courts endeavor to avoid extinguishing valid debts by law if the purposes of the statutes of limitations have been served. Therefore, debts are not to be cancelled solely by the passage of time if their existence can be proved by satisfactory evidence which has come into being before the debt became stale as statutorily defined.
The concern for the enforcement of valid debts on. the one hand, and antipathy towards stale claims on the other, is reconciled by compliance with RCW 6.36 which requires service of summons upon or notice to the judgment debtor (RCW 6.36.040, .050), and grants the judgment debtor an opportunity to be heard. RCW 6.36.080. To avoid the registration of a foreign judgment thought to be too old, RCW 6.36.020 prohibits the registration in Washington of any foreign judgment more than 6 years following the entry of the foreign judgment in the foreign jurisdiction. Matanuska Valley Lines, Inc. v. Molitor, 365 F.2d 358, 1 A.L.R. Fed. 321 (9th Cir. 1966), cert. denied, 386 U.S. 914, 17 L. Ed. 2d 786, 87 S. Ct. 864 (1967).
The enforcement of stale claims is not permitted by allowing those validly acknowledged to be enforced within a statutory period commencing to run on the date of *331acknowledgment. The proof to be presented is proof of the acknowledgment, not proof of the debt as of the date of its origin. It follows that the enforcement of stale claims is not encouraged by sanctioning the enforcement of a foreign judgment in this state for a period of 6 years following the date of entry of judgment in Washington.
Further, it is reasonable to assume that a factor in the judgment creditor's inability to satisfy the foreign judgment in the foreign jurisdiction was the absence of the debtor and his property from that jurisdiction. Upon discovery of the debtor or property in this state, the creditor should have the full statutory period to enforce a valid judgment. If either party is to be assisted by the law, it should be the creditor to whom is owed a valid debt and not the debtor who has received his part of the bargain but has failed to perform his just obligation.