Minnesota Session Laws - 1987, Regular Session

  

                         Laws of Minnesota 1987 

                        CHAPTER 273-H.F.No. 854 
           An act relating to judgments; clarifying the procedure 
          and cost for filing foreign judgments; clarifying the 
          procedure to be used in securing a judgment and 
          execution; amending Minnesota Statutes 1986, sections 
          548.27; 548.30; 549.09; and 550.04. 
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
    Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 548.27, is 
amended to read:  
    548.27 [FILING AND STATUS OF FOREIGN JUDGMENTS.] 
    A certified copy of any foreign judgment authenticated in 
accordance with the act of Congress or the statutes of this 
state may be filed in the office of the court administrator of 
any district court of this state.  The court administrator shall 
treat the foreign judgment in the same manner as a judgment of 
any district court or the supreme court of this state, and upon 
the filing of a certified copy of a foreign judgment in the 
office of the court administrator of district court of a county, 
it may not be filed in another district court in the 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 district court or the supreme court 
of this state, and may be enforced or satisfied in like manner. 
    Sec. 2.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 548.30, is 
amended to read:  
    548.30 [FEES.] 
    Any person filing a foreign judgment shall pay to the court 
administrator such amount as is determined by the judges of the 
court in which the judgment is filed the same fee as provided 
for filing a civil action in district court.  Fees for 
docketing, transcription or other enforcement proceedings shall 
be as provided for judgments of any district court of this state.
    Sec. 3.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 549.09, is 
amended to read:  
    549.09 [INTEREST ON VERDICTS AND JUDGMENTS.] 
    Subdivision 1.  [WHEN OWED; RATE.] (a) When the judgment is 
for the recovery of money, including a judgment for the recovery 
of taxes, interest from the time of the verdict or report until 
judgment is finally entered shall be computed by the court 
administrator as provided in clause (c) and added to the 
judgment.  
    (b) Except as otherwise provided by contract or allowed by 
law, preverdict or prereport interest on pecuniary damages shall 
be computed as provided in clause (c) from the time of the 
commencement of the action, or the time of a written settlement 
demand, whichever occurs first, except as provided herein.  The 
action must be commenced within 60 days of a written settlement 
demand for interest to begin to accrue from the time of the 
demand.  If either party serves a written offer of settlement, 
the other party may serve a written acceptance or a written 
counteroffer within 60 days.  After that time interest on the 
judgment shall be calculated by the judge in the following 
manner.  The prevailing party shall receive interest on any 
judgment from the time the action was commenced or a written 
settlement demand was made, or as to special damages from the 
time when special damages were incurred, if later, until the 
time of verdict or report only if the amount of its offer is 
closer to the judgment than the amount of the opposing party's 
offer.  If the amount of the losing party's offer was closer to 
the judgment than the prevailing party's offer, the prevailing 
party shall receive interest only on the amount of the 
settlement offer or the judgment, whichever is less, and only 
from the time the action was commenced or a written settlement 
demand was made, or as to special damages from when the special 
damages were incurred, if later, until the time the settlement 
offer was made.  Subsequent offers and counteroffers supersede 
the legal effect of earlier offers and counteroffers.  For the 
purposes of clause (3), the amount of settlement offer must be 
allocated between past and future damages in the same proportion 
as determined by the trier of fact.  Except as otherwise 
provided by contract or allowed by law, preverdict or prereport 
interest shall not be awarded on the following:  
    (1) judgments, awards, or benefits in workers' compensation 
cases, but not including third-party actions;  
    (2) judgments, decrees, or orders in dissolution, 
annulment, or legal separation actions; 
    (3) judgments for future damages; 
    (4) punitive damages, fines, or other damages that are 
noncompensatory in nature;  
    (5) judgments not in excess of the amount specified in 
section 487.30; and 
    (6) that portion of any verdict or report which is founded 
upon interest, or costs, disbursements, attorney fees, or other 
similar items added by the court. 
    (c) The interest shall be computed as simple interest per 
annum.  The rate of interest shall be based on the secondary 
market yield of one year United States treasury bills, 
calculated on a bank discount basis as provided in this section. 
    On or before the 20th day of December of each year the 
state court administrator shall determine the rate from the 
secondary market yield on one year United States treasury bills 
for the most recent calendar month, reported on a monthly basis 
in the latest statistical release of the board of governors of 
the federal reserve system.  This yield, rounded to the nearest 
one percent, shall be the annual interest rate during the 
succeeding calendar year; provided, however, that in no event 
shall the rate of interest be less than eight percent per 
annum.  The state court administrator shall also determine the 
average rate of interest on judgments to be used during the 
succeeding calendar year for computation of the discount rate 
under section 604.07, subdivision 4.  The state court 
administrator shall communicate the interest rates to the court 
administrators and sheriffs for use in computing the interest on 
verdicts and the discount rate under section 604.07. 
    When a judgment creditor, or the judgment creditor's 
attorney or agent, has received a payment after entry of 
judgment, whether the payment is made voluntarily by or on 
behalf of the judgment debtor, or is collected by legal process 
other than execution levy where a proper return has been filed 
with the court administrator, the judgment creditor, or the 
judgment creditor's attorney, before applying to the court 
administrator for an execution shall file with the court 
administrator an affidavit of partial satisfaction.  The 
affidavit must state the dates and amounts of payments made upon 
the judgment after the most recent affidavit of partial 
satisfaction filed, if any; the part of each payment that is 
applied to taxable disbursements and to accrued interest and to 
the unpaid principal balance of the judgment; and the accrued, 
but the unpaid interest owing, if any, after application of each 
payment.  
    Subd. 2.  [ACCRUAL OF INTEREST.] During each calendar year, 
interest shall accrue on the unpaid balance of the judgment from 
the time that it is entered until it is paid, at the annual rate 
provided in subdivision 1.  The court administrator shall 
compute and add the accrued interest to the total amount to be 
collected when the execution is issued, and compute the amount 
of daily interest accruing during the calendar year.  The person 
authorized by statute to make the levy shall compute and add 
interest from the date that the writ of execution was issued to 
the date of service of the writ of execution, and shall direct 
the daily interest to be computed and added from the date of 
service until any money is collected as a result of the levy.  
    Subd. 3.  [DEDUCTIONS.] If an affidavit is filed pursuant 
to subdivision 4, a judgment creditor, or the judgment 
creditor's attorney or agent, is entitled to deduct from any 
payment made upon a judgment, whether the payment is made 
voluntarily by or on behalf of the judgment debtor, or is 
collected by legal process, all disbursements that are made 
taxable by statute or by rule of court, that have been paid or 
incurred by the judgment creditor or the judgment creditor's 
attorney, after the entry of judgment.  Any remaining portion of 
the payment must be applied to the interest that has accrued 
upon the unpaid principal balance of the judgment before any 
remaining part is applied to reduce the unpaid principal balance 
of the judgment.  
    Subd. 4.  [AFFIDAVIT.] A judgment creditor, or the judgment 
creditor's attorney, may file an affidavit specifying the nature 
and amount of taxable disbursements paid or incurred by the 
judgment creditor, or the judgment creditor's attorney, after 
the entry of judgment.  An execution issued by the court 
administrator must include increased disbursements as are 
included in the affidavit filed with the court administrator. 
    Sec. 4.  Minnesota Statutes 1986, section 550.04, is 
amended to read:  
    550.04 [EXECUTION, HOW ISSUED; CONTENTS.] 
    The execution shall be under the seal of the court, 
subscribed by the court administrator, tested in the name of the 
district judge, directed to the sheriff, or to the coroner, if 
the sheriff be a party or interested, or to the judgment 
creditor or the judgment creditor's attorney, if issued under 
section 550.041, and endorsed by the party applying therefor or 
the party's attorney. It shall refer intelligibly to the 
judgment, stating the court, the county where the judgment roll 
or transcript is filed, the names of the parties, the amount of 
the judgment, if it be for money, the amount actually due 
thereon, together with accrued interest to the date of issuance 
and the amount of daily interest accruing during the calendar 
year, and the time of docketing in the county to which the 
execution is issued, and.  When issued to the sheriff or 
coroner, it shall require the officer substantially as follows: 
    (1) If it be against the property of the judgment debtor, 
to satisfy the judgment, with interest, out of the debtor's 
personal property, and, if sufficient personal property cannot 
be found, out of the real property belonging to the debtor on 
the day when the judgment was docketed in the county, or at any 
time thereafter not exceeding ten years; 
    (2) If real property has been attached, and judgment 
rendered in favor of the plaintiff in the same action, the 
execution thereon may also direct a sale of all the property 
which the defendant had in such real estate at the time it was 
so attached, or at any time after entry of judgment not 
exceeding ten years; in such case, if after the attachment the 
judgment creditor has paid taxes on the real property and filed 
with the court administrator the tax receipt, it shall be 
attached to the judgment roll, and the execution shall also 
state that it has been filed, and the date and amount thereof, 
and the date of filing; and, if the property be sold under the 
execution, the proceeds, after deducting the expenses of sale, 
shall be first applied to the payment of the amount so paid for 
taxes, with interest; 
    (3) If it be against real or personal property in the hands 
of personal representatives, heirs, devisees, legatees, 
trustees, or tenants of real property, it shall require the 
officer to satisfy the judgment, with interest, out of such 
property; 
    (4) If it be against defendants jointly indebted on a 
contract, a part of whom only have been summoned in the action, 
it shall issue in form against all; but the party causing it to 
be issued, or the party's attorney, shall endorse thereon the 
names of those defendants who have not been summoned, and it 
shall not be levied upon the sole property of any such 
defendant; but it may be levied upon the personal property owned 
by such defendant as a partner with any or all of the other 
defendants; 
    (5) If it be for delivery of the possession of real or 
personal property, it shall require the officer to deliver 
possession of the same, particularly describing it, to the party 
entitled thereto; and it may, at the same time, require the 
officer to satisfy, out of the personal property of the party 
against whom the judgment was rendered, any costs, charges, 
damages, rents, or profits recovered thereby, and the value of 
the property for which the judgment was recovered, to be 
specified therein, if a delivery thereof cannot be had; and if 
sufficient personal property cannot be found, then out of the 
real property, as provided in the first clause of this section, 
and in that respect it shall be deemed an execution against 
property. 
    Approved May 28, 1987