Senate Bill No. 259
(By Senators Burdette, Mr. President and Craigo,
Wooton, Yoder, Dittmar, Miller, Ross, Dalton,
Whitlow, Wagner, Minard, Claypole and Anderson)
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[Introduced February 3, 1994; referred to the Committee
on the Judiciary.]
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A BILL to amend and reenact section two, article fourteen,
chapter fifty-five of the code of West Virginia, one
thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating to
enforcement of foreign judgments generally; and prohibiting
harsher enforcement than allowed in the state in which the
judgment is entered.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That section two, article fourteen, chapter fifty-five of
the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred thirty-one,
as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 14. UNIFORM ENFORCEMENT OF FOREIGN JUDGMENTS ACT.
§55-14-2. Filing and status of foreign judgments.
A copy of any foreign judgment authenticated in accordance
with an act of Congress or the statutes of this state may be
filed in the office of the clerk of any circuit court of this
state. The clerk shall treat the foreign judgment in the same
manner as a judgment of any circuit court of this state. A
judgment so filed has the same effect and is subject to the sameprocedures, defenses and proceedings for reopening, vacating or
staying as a judgment of a circuit court of this state and may be
enforced or satisfied in like manner:
Provided, That,
notwithstanding any other provision of this article to the
contrary, a foreign judgment may not be enforced more harshly
against a citizen of this state than it could be enforced against
a citizen of the state where the original judgment was entered.
A debt collector seeking to enforce a foreign judgment in this
state shall ensure that any suggestee execution or other legal
process seeking to seize property of a debtor pursuant to a
foreign judgment shall clearly state, on the face of the petition
or other filing, any property exempt in the state in which the
original judgment was entered and it shall specify that the
property is exempt from execution, attachment or seizure and sale
in this state. Any person violating this provision shall be
considered to have violated the provisions of chapter forty-six-a
of this code and shall be held liable for the civil penalties and
is subject to the criminal penalties of article five of that
chapter.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to prohibit harsher
enforcement of foreign judgments against citizens of this state
than are allowed in the state in which the judgment is entered.
Strike-throughs indicate language that would be stricken
from the present law, and underscoring indicates new language
that would be added.
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