Lawrence Systems, Inc. By and Through Douglas-Guardian Warehouse Corp. v. Superior Feeders, Inc.

• Decision Date: 30 June 1994
• Docket Number: No. 07-93-0077-CV,DOUGLAS-GUARDIAN,07-93-0077-CV
• Citation: 880 S.W.2d 203
• Parties: LAWRENCE SYSTEMS, INC., By and Through its Successor-in-Interest,WAREHOUSE CORP., Appellant, v. SUPERIOR FEEDERS, INC., O.C. Elliott and Herbert Vogel, Appellees.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 203

880 S.W.2d 203

LAWRENCE SYSTEMS, INC., By and Through its Successor-in-Interest, DOUGLAS-GUARDIAN WAREHOUSE CORP., Appellant, v. SUPERIOR FEEDERS, INC., O.C. Elliott and Herbert Vogel, Appellees.

No. 07-93-0077-CV.

Court of Appeals of Texas,

Amarillo.

June 30, 1994.

Rehearing Overruled July 26, 1994.

Don H. Reavis, Lumpkin, Barras, Reavis & Bunkley, Amarillo, for appellant.

Kelly Utsinger and Kevin P. Parker, Underwood, Wilson, Berry, Stein & Johnson, P.C., Amarillo, for appellees.

Before REYNOLDS, C.J., and DODSON and BOYD, JJ.

DODSON, Justice.

Lawrence Systems, Inc. (Lawrence Systems) by and through its successor-in-interest, Douglas-Guardian Warehouse Corp., appeals from the trial court's order vacating and rendering null and unenforceable a Texas judgment rendered by the filing of an Oklahoma order under section 35.003 of the Texas Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (the Uniform Act) against Superior Feeders, Inc., O.C. Elliott, and Herbert Vogel (collectively referred to as Superior Feeders) on the ground that enforcement of the judgment is barred by section 16.066(b) (i.e., the Texas ten-year statute of limitations on actions to enforce foreign judgments). ¹ Among other things, Lawrence Systems makes a first impression claim that section 16.066(b) does not apply to enforcement proceedings brought under the Uniform Act. We affirm.

Lawrence Systems brings seven points of error which are grouped for argument and present five contentions. The contentions are that: (1) Superior Feeders' motion to vacate allegations constitute a collateral attack on Lawrence Systems' Oklahoma judgment; (2) the trial court erroneously admitted evidence aliunde (outside) the judgment; (3) section 16.066(b) does not bar filing and enforcement of the Oklahoma judgment under the Uniform Act; (4) the Oklahoma judgment was rendered on September 23, 1992; and (5) the September 23, 1992 judgment is res judicata to all matters asserted by Superior Feeders. ²

First, we will address Lawrence Systems' third contention that section 16.066(b) does not apply to the Oklahoma judgment filed under the Uniform Act. Under this contention, Lawrence Systems claims that (1) the enforcement proceeding initiated by filing under section 35.003 of the Uniform Act constitutes a registration procedure rather than an action to enforce the judgment, (2) section 16.066(b) applies only to common law actions to enforce foreign judgments, and (3) section 16.066(b) does not apply to proceedings brought under the Uniform Act. We disagree.

Initially, we note that the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the United States Constitution, Article IV, Section 1, declares that full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state. It is long and well established, however, that the Full Faith and Credit Clause does not preclude the forum state from applying its own statute of limitations to a sister state's judgments when the statute is reasonable and does not discriminate against out-of-state judgments. M'Elmoyle v. Cohen, 38 U.S. (13 Pet.) 312, 10 L.Ed. 177 (1839). In that regard, the court in Tourtelot v. Booker, 160 S.W. 293 (Tex.Civ.App.--El Paso 1913, writ ref'd), determined that the predecessor to section 16.066(b) passed constitutional muster.

Texas courts recognize at least two proceedings for the enforcement of foreign judgments. These enforcement proceedings consist of filing under section 35.003 of the Uniform Act or filing a common law action to enforce a foreign judgment. The common law action is recognized and preserved in section 35.008 of the Uniform Act. Texas courts have consistently applied section 16.066(b) and its predecessor to common law proceedings brought to enforce foreign judgments from federal courts and sister states. See, e.g., Collin County Nat. Bank v. Hughes, 110 Tex. 362, 220 S.W. 767 (1920); Ferguson-McKinney Dry Goods Co. v. Garrett, 252 S.W. 738 (Tex.Comm'n App.1923, judgm't adopted).

In that regard, section 16.066(b) provides:

An action against a person who has resided in this state for 10 years prior to the action may not be brought on a foreign judgment rendered more than 10 years before the commencement of the action in this state.

Tex.Civ.Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 16.066(b) (Vernon 1986).

Section 35.003 of the Uniform Act provides:

(a) A copy of a foreign judgment authenticated in accordance with an act of congress or a statute of this state may be filed in the office of the clerk of any court of competent jurisdiction of this state.

(b) The clerk shall treat the foreign judgment in the same manner as a judgment of the court in which the foreign judgment is filed.

(c) A filed foreign judgment has the same effect and is subject to the same procedures, defenses, and proceedings for reopening, vacating, staying, enforcing, or satisfying a judgment as a judgment of the court in which it is filed.

Tex.Civ.Prac. & Rem.Code Ann. § 35.003 (Vernon 1986).

Since the case before us presents a question of first impression concerning the application of section 16.066(b) to enforcement proceedings under section 35.003 of the Uniform Act, we have reviewed cases from other jurisdictions for persuasive assistance. From that review, we are persuaded that cases such as Eschenhagen v. Zika, 144 Ariz. 213, 696 P.2d 1362 (Ct.App.1985) and Alexander Const. Co. v. Weaver, 3 Kan.App.2d 298, 594 P.2d 248 (1979) present the most logical resolution.

In Zika, the court recognized that one of the purposes of the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act is to provide a speedy and economical method of enforcing foreign judgments. 696 P.2d at 1367. However, the court stated that it found nothing in the language of the Act or within the Act's stated purpose which precluded the forum state from applying its own statute of limitations in proceedings under the Act. Id. Accordingly, the court held it would apply its own statute of limitations to bar enforcement of the foreign judgment filed under the Arizona Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. Id. at 1368.

Similarly, in Weaver, the Kansas court stated:

The Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act was instituted to provide a more effective and efficient time saving procedure for the enforcement of judgments obtained in foreign jurisdictions. Our adoption of this Act does not extinguish the judgment creditor's right to bring or file an action to enforce his foreign judgment in this state.... It is merely another method available to the judgment creditor. The statute of limitations applicable to enforcement of a foreign judgment in Kansas should be the same regardless of which of these methods of enforcement is chosen by the judgment creditor. (Emphasis added).

Weaver, 594 P.2d at 250.

The Kansas court held that enforcement under the Kansas Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act was governed by the Kansas statute of limitations applicable to actions on foreign judgments. Further, it was determined, in Warner v. Warner, 9 Kan.App.2d 6, 668 P.2d 193, 195 (1983), that "[r]egistration [under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act] is a simplified alternative to bringing suit on the foreign judgment, and if suit is barred so is registration." Accord Newhouse v. Newhouse, 271 Or. 109, 530 P.2d 848 (1975).

To support its position, Lawrence Systems relies on Producers Grain Corporation v. Carroll, 546 P.2d 285 (Okla.Ct.App.1976). Carroll shows that, on February 2, 1970, Producers Grain obtained judgment against Carroll in a Texas court. On September 6, 1973 (i.e., three years and seven months later), Producers Grain instituted enforcement proceedings in Oklahoma by filing the Texas judgment with the clerk for the District Court of Texas County, Oklahoma, under Oklahoma's version of the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. ³ Carroll moved to strike the judgment claiming that enforcement of the judgment was barred by the Oklahoma three-year statute of limitations applicable to actions on foreign judgments.

In Carroll, the Oklahoma court of appeals determined that the three-year statute of limitations applicable to "civil actions" to enforce a foreign judgment is not applicable to a foreign judgment filed under Oklahoma's Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. The court stated:

We fail to see how Section 95 can have any application to an enforcement proceeding under the Act. Section 95 applies to civil actions on a foreign judgment and a proceeding under the Act is not a civil action within the meaning of Section 95. Indeed, as we noted above, the Act was designed to provide a viable alternative to the traditional method of enforcing foreign judgments by a separate lawsuit in which the judgment was considered nothing more than a contract debt; it totally lacked the force of a domestic judgment, except for evidentiary purposes. The Act does not involve the institution of an action to enforce the judgment; it requires, to give the foreign judgment immediate legally enforceable consequences, only that it be filed in accordance with its provisions. ⁴ (Emphasis in original).

Carroll, 546 P.2d at 287.

The rationale in Carroll was grounded on the court's definition of a "civil action" under the Oklahoma statute of limitations. Consequently, the court held that the Oklahoma statute of limitations applicable to civil actions on foreign judgments was not applicable to and did not govern foreign judgment enforcement proceedings brought under Oklahoma's Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act because filing under the Act did not constitute a "civil action." In that regard, we point out, that section 16.066(b) is not limited to "civil actions."

Section 16.066(b) refers simply to actions, and the word "action" is not specifically defined. Thus, we must read the word in context and determine its meaning according to the rules of grammar and common usage. Tex.Gov't Code...