March 2017 – Creditors Rights 101

New Davidson County Chancery Court Ruling: Certified Copies are Good Enough to Support a Foreign Judgment Domestication

Last October, I talked about how failure to get a properly “authenticated” copy of a judgment would be fatal to a creditor’s action under the Uniform Foreign Judgment Enforcement Act.

So, here I am, in March, and I’m writing about how a Davidson County Chancery Court has now ruled that a simple “certified copy” of the judgment would suffice. Five months is a pretty quick turnaround, even by my standards.

The reasoning of the Chancellor is this:

The purpose of the Full Faith and Credit Clause was to make it easy to enroll and domesticate judgments granted in other jurisdictions;
As you know, the requirements for filing a foreign judgment in Tennessee are “few and straightforward.” See Boardwalk Regency Corp. v. Patterson, No. M1999-02805-COA-R3-CV, 2001 WL 1613892, at * 4 (Tenn. Ct. App. Dec. 18, 2001).
As I’ve written about before, there are essentially three “defenses” to a filing under the Act. Those are: (1) if the judgment is “void due to a lack of personal or subject matter jurisdiction;” (2) if it was “based upon fraud;” or (3) where its enforcement “would violate public policy of the forum state.” Guseinov v. Synergy Ventures, Inc., 467 S.W.3d 920, 924 (Tenn. Ct. App. 2014).
Per Guseinov, a party seeking to prevent the enrollment of a foreign judgment carries “a stern and heavy burden” in Tennessee.
So, if the only defense is that the judgment wasn’t authenticated consistent with the Acts of Congress/triple certification process/exemplified, the creditor hasn’t met a “stern and heavy burden.”
If there is no indication or argument that the simple certification on the certified judgment is invalid or not the Clerk’s signature, then a certified copy will suffice.

Today isn’t the day that I argue against the ruling; instead, this is just me, warning you.

But, this hasn’t always been the practice in Tennessee or other jurisdictions interpreting the Foreign Judgment domestication Act, so, if you want to be 100% safe, go with the authenticated copy.

Tune back in 4 months to see if I have reversed course again.

Attorney Liens: Because Every Lawyer Should Get Paid

I talk a lot about liens as a good way for a creditor to get paid. In state courts and bankruptcy courts, there often are two lines formed: one for those with liens; and the other for those without liens. And you can guess which one leads to the money.

Under Tennessee statutes, there are liens for all kinds of people: mechanics, artisans; dentists; jewelers; shoe repairers; cotton ginners; lithographers; baggage claim folks…just to name a few.

But let’s talk about attorney liens today.

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 23-2-102, an attorney who files a lawsuit “shall have a lien upon the plaintiff’s or complainant’s right of action from the date of the filing of the suit.” (Or, per Tenn. Code Ann. § 23-2-103, the attorney has a lien from the date that the attorney starts work on the case.)

This lien extends to two types of property. The first is a “retaining lien,” which gives the attorney the right to retain a client’s books, papers, or money coming into his possession during the matter until the client pays. The second is a “charging lien,” which is a lien for payment of fees against the judgment or recovery obtained in a case. For a good review of this, see Starks v. Browning, 20 S.W.3d 645, 650 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1999).

There’s some old caselaw out there that suggests that the attorney must have the lien noted in the Judgment to be valid. The Starks case above (involving the venerable Nashville lawyer, Bart Durham) says that requirement is not in the statute and is just an odd creation from old caselaw.

But, I say that it’s a good practice to note the attorney lien any– and every-where (in judgments, in notices filed with the Court, notices recorded in the Register’s Office), but it’s not legally required.

The statutes above don’t cover all situations where an attorney might have a lien; in fact, other specific statutes, like worker’s compensation matters, may have their own special rules. Additionally, nothing would stop a collection minded lawyer from obtaining a consensual lien as part of his or her client engagement documents, particularly where client resources may eventually be scarce.

Long story short, the attorney lien statutes are probably narrower than you thought they were, granting a lien generally only the lawsuit filed by the attorney. Any other, broader liens to secure repayment must be granted or taken under other statutes (judgment liens, consensual liens).

Changes in Credit Reports May Soon Exclude Outstanding Judgments

The Consumer Data Industry Association is reporting that the three major credit reporting bureaus (i.e. Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion) are updating how they report certain public record data on consumers’ credit reports.

One of these changes will be that the records must contain “a minimum of consumer personal identifying information (PII): (1) Name, (2) address, and (3) SSN and/or date of birth.”

These changes, which will take place on July 1, 2017, will result in most civil judgments no longer being report on credit reports, since court judgments rarely contain full social security numbers and/or dates of birth.

In fact, in most jurisdictions, personally identifying information like this can’t be allowed on judgments; instead, such information must be redacted.

What does this mean for a bank or other lenders? A loan applicant’s credit report will be less likely to contain all relevant information about debts and liabilities. That’s not good news, say banks.

What does this mean for a judgment debt collector? Not much, since a judgment creditor isn’t making a credit decision, and so negative information on a credit report provides less guidance. On the hand, seeing a list of judgments and liens is still useful, in that they provide a shapshot of a judgment debtor’s overall financial state.

Sure, the Debtor is Foreign, but Is his Bank?

I’ve talked about the process of domestication of judgments, which is basically the process by which you make a judgment from one state enforceable in another state. You see, a judgment awarded in Tennessee can only reach a debtor’s assets located inside the State of Tennessee. So, if you have a judgment against somebody who lives in Texas, you may have to file a second lawsuit in Texas to attach his assets.

But don’t go buy a pair of cowboy boots just yet.

I mean, sure, if he owns land in Texas, owns a car that’s registered in Texas, or has a million dollars in cash under his Texas bed, then your Tennessee judgment is not going to be effective to execute on those assets. To get those things that are actually in Texas, you need to go through the domestication process, which results in your out of state judgment being recognized by that foreign state as a valid judgment for enforcement in that state.

But, here’s a trick: What if the debtor has all his assets in that foreign state, but he banks at a national bank with offices all over the country? And what if that bank has a branch in Tennessee? The answer is that you can levy on that bank account.

So, debtors with accounts at Wells Fargo Bank, National Association and Bank of America, watch out.