SB 259 Text

COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 259
(By Senators Burdette, Mr. President, Craigo,
Wooton, Yoder, Dittmar, Miller, Ross, Dalton,
Whitlow, Wagner, Minard, Claypole and Anderson)
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[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary;
reported February 16, 1994.]
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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 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 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 said chapter.

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(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.)

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