Federal Judgments in Florida Still Good After Five Years

I had lunch with a friend who is a trial lawyer at a small restaurant near a federal courthouse in Jacksonville. He told me that federal judgments in Florida are only valid for five years now. My friend told me about a court case called Balfour Beatty Bahamas, Ltd. v. Bush, where a company was trying to collect a debt from someone named Bush. The court said that the company couldn’t collect the debt because it had been too long since the judgment was made. But I explained to my friend that the decision didn’t actually say anything about how long someone can try to collect a debt. It was a long lunch and my friend still didn’t believe me. If a federal court in Florida issues a judgment, it can be used to put a lien on someone’s property in the state for up to 20 years. This means that the person who owes money has to pay the judgment before they can sell their property. This is true even if Florida state law has a shorter time limit for taking action on the judgment. In the case of Lott, a federal court judgment was enforced in Florida against property owned by Dyer in 1941. The Florida Supreme Court ruled that the statute of limitations did not apply to the enforcement of the judgment because it was not considered a “new and independent action.” This means that post-judgment collection proceedings are not considered a new action, but rather a continuation of the original case. This principle also applies to other post-judgment collection procedures, such as those for discovering property or bringing in new parties. The Florida Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, which includes federal court judgments, does not change this ruling. If a creditor has a federal court judgment from outside of Florida, they can turn it into a Florida state court judgment through a process called domestication. This used to be useless for judgments from federal courts in Florida because the liens for federal and state court judgments are seen as the same. In 1984, Florida made a simpler way to domesticate foreign judgments, including federal court judgments. This process follows a five-year time limit for enforcement. This doesn’t change the power of the federal judgment, which is still controlled by federal law. The decision in the Balfour case doesn’t seem to be correct. The court didn’t consider important details about federal judgment liens and another related court case. It’s not clear if the creditor’s judgment was ever recorded to create a lien on the debtor’s property. The court also made a mistake by relying on a different court case that is not relevant to the situation in Balfour. Overall, it seems like the court didn’t follow the correct legal principles in making their decision. In the Kiesel decision, the court said that their analysis might not apply if the judgment becomes a lien. There’s no specific time limit for a creditor to record a judgment from a federal court in Florida, but the lien can’t last longer than 20 years from when the judgment was entered. For state court judgments, the same 20-year limit applies. Federal law says that federal judgments create liens just like state judgments, so if there’s a conflict between federal and state law, federal law wins. In simple terms, if a federal court judgment in Florida is properly recorded, the lien can be enforced for up to 20 years. A previous court case called Balfour does not change this rule, and any defense based on Balfour should be challenged. Additionally, a decision called Lott also supports the enforceability of federal court judgments in Florida. It’s important for judgment creditors to understand these rules when trying to enforce their judgments. This article was written by Michael G. Tanner, who is a lawyer at a firm in Jacksonville. He got help from Kathie Fennell, who works at the firm’s library. The article is for the Trial Lawyers Section, with D. Keith Wickenden as the editor. The article talks about the principles of duty and service to the public, improving the justice system, and advancing the study of law.

Source: https://www.floridabar.org/the-florida-bar-journal/federal-judgments-in-florida-still-good-after-five-years/