Wells Fargo Bank, Nat. Ass'n v. Kopfman

• Decision Date: 15 March 2010
• Docket Number: No. 08SC783.,08SC783.
• Parties: WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, by assignee, Ann W. Kopfman, Petitioners v. William Lynn KOPFMAN and Christine E. Kopfman, Respondents.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

226 P.3d 1068

WELLS FARGO BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION, by assignee, Ann W. Kopfman, Petitioners v. William Lynn KOPFMAN and Christine E. Kopfman, Respondents.

No. 08SC783.

Supreme Court of Colorado, En Banc.

March 15, 2010.

Brown, Berardini & Dunning, P.C., Douglas W. Brown, David C. Walker, Denver, Colorado, James M. Croshal, Pueblo, Colorado, Attorneys for Petitioners.

Lester, Sigmond, Rooney & Schwiesow, P.C., James K. Lester, Alamosa, Colorado, Sherman & Howard, L.L.C., Mark Fulford, Stephen A. Hess, Denver, Colorado, Attorneys for Respondents.

Justice MARTINEZ delivered the Opinion of the Court.

I. Introduction

The present case requires this court to determine the proper procedure for judgment creditors to follow when seeking to extend judgment liens predicated on judgments originally issued by foreign courts and later domesticated in Colorado. The Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, sections 13-53-101 to -107, C.R.S. (2009), ("Uniform Act") allows parties to domesticate judgments issued by foreign courts. Once a foreign judgment is domesticated under the Uniform Act, it is enforceable through the Colorado judicial process. As with other judgments, a judgment creditor who has domesticated a foreign judgment may obtain a judgment lien on property of the judgment debtor located in Colorado by filing a transcript of the judgment record in the county where the debtor's property is located. § 13-52-102(1), C.R.S. (2009). Judgment liens expire after six years "unless, prior to the expiration of the original six-year period" the judgment is "revived as provided by law and a transcript of the judgment record of such revived judgment ... is recorded in the same county in which the transcript of the original judgment was recorded...." Id. We conclude that, under section 13-52-102(1), in order to extend a judgment lien predicated upon a foreign judgment domesticated in Colorado, judgment creditors must revive the underlying foreign judgment in the jurisdiction that originally issued the judgment. Then, the judgment creditor must revive the domesticated foreign judgment in Colorado by complying with the requirements of C.R.C.P. 54(h), and filing a transcript of the revived judgment record in the county where the original transcript of judgment was recorded.

II. Facts and Procedural History

The present dispute centers on the ownership of a fourteen-acre parcel of property located in a Rio Grande County golf course. Respondents William Lynn Kopfman and Christine E. Kopfman (together "Kopfman Respondents") own an undivided one-half interest in the parcel. Petitioner Ann W. Kopfman and the estate of Bill Kopfman, Ann's now-deceased husband, own the other undivided one-half interest in the tract.

On January 20, 1999, Wells Fargo Bank, National Association ("Wells Fargo") secured a judgment for nearly seven million dollars against ENKO Produce, LLC, Michael and Rhonda Entz, and the Kopfman Respondents in the Superior Court of Maricopa County, Arizona. On February 24, 1999, Wells Fargo filed a petition in the Saguache County District Court seeking registration of the Arizona judgment under the Uniform Act. Along with the petition for registration of the Arizona judgment, Wells Fargo filed an "affidavit of filing of foreign judgment" and a "notice of registration of foreign judgment" pursuant to section 13-53-104(1) and (2). On March 17, 1999, the Saguache County District Court entered an order recognizing and registering the Arizona judgment. Two months later, pursuant to section 13-52-102(1), Wells Fargo recorded a transcript of the judgment record issued by the Saguache County District Court in the Rio Grande County real property records, thereby establishing a judgment lien against any real property owned by the judgment debtors in Rio Grande County.

Later that year, the Kopfman Respondents filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the District of Colorado and their debts were discharged in late 1999. The parties agree that this bankruptcy prevents personal recovery against the Kopfman Respondents on the Wells Fargo debt but did not discharge the judgment lien on their interest in the Rio Grande County property.

On January 8, 2004, one year before the Colorado judgment lien was to expire, Wells Fargo filed a "judgment renewal affidavit" in the Maricopa County Superior Court in Arizona. This filing renewed the Arizona judgment for another five-year period. Ariz.Rev. Stat. §§ 12-1612, -1613 (2009). Wells Fargo then recorded a certified copy of the "judgment renewal affidavit" in the Rio Grande County clerk and recorder's office on January 24, 2004.¹

In October of 2006, Petitioner Ann Kopfman purchased the Wells Fargo debt from Wells Fargo for roughly $160,000. Shortly after purchasing the debt, Ann Kopfman filed a motion for writ of execution against on the golf course property, seeking a sheriff's sale of the Kopfman Respondents' interest in the golf course property. The trial court granted the motion; however, one week prior to the sale date, the Kopfman Respondents filed a motion to quash the sale. Relying on section 13-52-102(1), the Kopfman Respondents argued that Wells Fargo failed to properly extend the judgment against them when it filed the Arizona "judgment renewal affidavit" with the Rio Grande County clerk and recorder. Section 13-52-102(1) provides, in part:

The lien of such judgment shall expire six years after the entry of judgment unless, prior to the expiration of such six-year period, such judgment is revived as provided by law and a transcript of the judgment record of such revived judgment, certified by the clerk of the court in which such revived judgment was entered, is recorded in the same county in which the transcript of the original judgment was recorded, in which event the lien shall continue for six years from the entry of the revived judgment.

The Kopfman Respondents argued that the underlying judgment was not "revived as provided by law" because Wells Fargo failed to revive the domesticated foreign judgment in accordance with C.R.C.P. 54(h) and file a transcript of the revived judgment record with the Rio Grande County clerk and recorder. Additionally, the Kopfman Respondents asserted that the Arizona "judgment renewal affidavit" did not meet section 13-52-102(1)'s revival requirements because it was not a transcript of the judgment record and was not certified by the Saguache County District Court clerk. Accordingly, Respondents argued that the judgment lien expired on June 21, 2005, six years after the transcript of the domesticated judgment record was originally filed with the Rio Grande County clerk and recorder.

The district court ruled that the 1999 judgment lien was properly extended when Petitioners properly revived the Arizona judgment and filed the Arizona "judgment renewal affidavit" in the clerk and recorder's office. Applying the substantial compliance doctrine, the trial court concluded that the Arizona "judgment renewal affidavit" was the equivalent of a Colorado transcript of judgment record. Therefore, the trial court ruled that the 1999 judgment lien was properly extended and could be used to execute on the Kopfman Respondents' interest in the golf course property.

The court of appeals reversed the trial court, holding that a judgment creditor seeking to extend a judgment lien beyond the six-year expiration period must follow Colorado procedures by reviving the judgment under Colorado law and then filing a transcript of the revived judgment record. 205 P.3d 437 (Colo.App.2008). We granted certiorari² and now affirm the judgment of the court of appeals. We hold that, once a foreign judgment has been domesticated in Colorado pursuant to the Uniform Act, in order to extend a judgment lien predicated upon the domesticated foreign judgment, creditors must revive the domesticated judgment pursuant to C.R.C.P. 54(h) and then file a transcript of the revived judgment record in the real property records where the original judgment lien was filed.

III. Analysis

A. Domestication of Foreign Judgments

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...