EXTENDING OLD JUDGMENTS: TIMING IS CRUCIAL
Friday, July 28th, 2017
Waller on Judgment Collection
The Court of Appeals has confirmed that the deadline to file a motion to extend the life of an old judgment is ten years from the date the judgment was entered. In Town & County Jewelers, Inc. v. Trotter, the Court ruled that the judgment creditor (usually the plaintiff) waited too long to file its motion to extend the judgment.
In 2003, the trial court awarded a nearly half million dollar judgment to Town & County and against the Trotters. The Trotters did not pay the money they owed. In 2016, Town & County filed a motion to extend the unpaid judgment. The Trotters responded by asserting the statute of limitations as a defense. The Trotters argued that the motion to extend should have been filed in 2003, before the ten year anniversary of the judgment.
Rule 69 of the Rules of Civil Procedure applies to extending judgments. It says: “Within ten years from the entry of a judgment, the creditor whose judgment remains unsatisfied may file a motion to extend the judgment for another ten years.” The Court of Appeals followed the rule as written. Because Town & County waited too long, the judgment cannot be extended. The time to collect the judgment has ended.
This case makes it clear that a judgment creditor must file their motion before the ten year anniversary of a judgment if they want to extend it. Otherwise, the time to collect the judgment ends.