ENROLLED
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 259
(Senators Burdette, Mr. President, Craigo,
Wooton, Yoder, Dittmar, Miller, Ross, Dalton,
Whitlow, Wagner, Minard, Claypole and Anderson,
original sponsors)
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[Passed March 11, 1994; in effect ninety days from passage.]
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AN ACT 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; entitling
citizens of this state against whom a judgment is enforced
to the same exemption from execution, attachment or seizure
and sale as a citizen of the state from which the judgment
was given is entitled; requirements of debt collector; and
civil and criminal penalties.
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 same
procedures, 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 citizen of this state shall be entitled to the same
exemption from execution, attachment or seizure and sale as 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 seeking to enforce a foreign judgment
in this state who violates any provision of this section shall be
liable to the person against whom the judgment is sought to be
enforced for actual damages and, in addition thereto, shall be
liable to such person for a penalty in an amount not more than
one thousand dollars. Any person seeking to enforce a foreign
judgment in this state who willfully violates any provision ofthis section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon
conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than one thousand
dollars or confined in jail not more than one year, or both fined
and confined.