Credit Services, LLC v. Hulterstrom

The summaries of the Colorado Court of Appeals published opinions
constitute no part of the opinion of the division but have been prepared by
the division for the convenience of the reader. The summaries may not be
cited or relied upon as they are not the official language of the division.
Any discrepancy between the language in the summary and in the opinion
should be resolved in favor of the language in the opinion.

SUMMARY
January 24, 2019

2019COA7

No. 17CA1423, Security Credit Services, LLC v. Hulterstrom —
Topical subject keywords — Creditors and Debtors —
Judgements — Judgement Liens

The division holds that a judgment creditor may obtain a

judgment lien at any time during the remaining life of the judgment,

but if more than six years have passed since the entry of the

judgment, the creditor must first revive the judgment and record

the transcript of the revived judgment.
COLORADO COURT OF APPEALS 2019COA7

Court of Appeals No. 17CA1423
El Paso County District Court No. 10CV5060
Honorable Eric Bentley, Judge

Security Credit Services, LLC,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

Winifried Hulterstrom,

Defendant-Appellee.

ORDER REVERSED AND CASE
REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS

Division V
Opinion by JUDGE BERGER
Román and Richman, JJ., concur

Announced January 24, 2019

Vargo & Janson PC, Gerald P. Vargo, Yosy V. Janson, Nick J. Deganhard,
Lakewood, Colorado, for Plaintiff-Appellant

No Appearance for Defendant-Appellee

Notarianni & Notarianni, Gregory J. Notarianni, Denver, Colorado; Sweetbaum
Sands Anderson P.C., Geoffrey P. Anderson, Denver, Colorado, for Amicus
Curiae Real Estate Law Section of the Colorado Bar Association

Philip J. Weiser, Attorney General, Kimberly S. Sorrells, Deputy Assistant
Attorney General, Denver, Colorado, for Amicus Curiae Colorado Department of
Personnel and Administration
¶1 Can a judgment creditor obtain a judgment lien against real

property when more than six years have passed since the entry of

the judgment? If so, what must the creditor do to obtain such a

lien?

¶2 We hold that a judgment creditor may obtain a judgment lien

at any time during the remaining life of the judgment, but if more

than six years have passed since the entry of the judgment, the

creditor must first revive the judgment and record the transcript of

the revived judgment. This is true whether or not the judgment

creditor previously obtained a judgment lien.

¶3 Because the district court erroneously concluded that revival

of the judgment was not required and denied the creditor’s request

to revive the judgment, we reverse the district court’s order.

I. Relevant Facts and Procedural Background

¶4 In 2010, the district court entered a money judgment in favor

of plaintiff, Security Credit Services, LLC, against defendant,

Winifried Hulterstrom. Security Credit obtained a transcript of the

judgment, but it is not clear from the record whether Security

Credit ever recorded the transcript of judgment and thus obtained a

judgment lien on real property owned or later acquired by

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Hulterstrom in the county in which the transcript was recorded. In

any event, it appears that Security Credit never foreclosed that lien

on any specific property.

¶5 In 2017, Marshall Recovery II LLC filed notice with the district

court that it had purchased the money judgment from Security

Credit.1 Not long after that, but more than six years after the entry

of judgment, Marshall moved under C.R.C.P. 54(h) to revive the

judgment. The district court denied the motion, stating “[t]he 6-

year period [from the date of the judgment] expired on 10-13-16.”

¶6 Marshall moved to reconsider, arguing that to obtain a new,

valid judgment lien, it had to first revive the judgment. The district

court denied this request a second time, stating as follows:

C.R.S. 13-52-102(1) provides that a judgment
lien expires six years after entry of judgment
unless, prior to the expiration of the six-year
period, the judgment is revived and a new
transcript of judgment recorded. In this case,
as previously noted, the judgment lien expired
on 10-13-16. Accordingly, it is too late to
continue the original lien. The judgment
creditor may, if it wishes, record a new
transcript of judgment, which will create a new
lien, effective as of the date of recording. There

1Though Security Credit assigned its rights to the judgment to
Marshall, the caption in this case remained the same. See C.R.C.P.
25(c).

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is no need to revive the judgment itself, since it
is good for 20 years under C.R.S. 13-52-102(2)
and reviving the judgment would not change
the effect of the new lien.

¶7 In what Marshall describes as a “last ditch-effort” to obtain a

revived judgment, it moved for a hearing on the motion to revive the

judgment, which the district court denied. Marshall then timely

filed this appeal.

II. Standard of Review

¶8 We review matters of statutory interpretation de novo. Perfect

Place, LLC v. Semler, 2018 CO 74, ¶ 40. Our primary purpose is to

give effect to the intent of the General Assembly. Id. We look first

to the language of the statute, giving words and phrases their plain

and ordinary meanings. Id. We consider the statute as a whole

and give consistent, harmonious, and sensible effect to all of its

parts. Id. We apply the same rules of construction to the Colorado

Rules of Civil Procedure. In re Marriage of Wiggins, 2012 CO 44,

¶ 24.

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III. A Judgment Creditor May Obtain a Judgment Lien More Than
Six Years After the Entry of Judgment, But Must Revive the
Judgment to Do So

¶9 In Colorado, the exclusive method to obtain a judgment lien

against real property based on a Colorado judgment is to record a

transcript of the judgment in the records of the clerk and recorder

of a Colorado county. § 13-52-102(1), C.R.S. 2018. Once recorded,

the transcript of judgment constitutes a lien on all real property

owned, or later owned, in that county by the judgment debtor. Id.

The priority date of the lien, for Recording Act purposes, is the date

of recordation of the transcript of judgment; the date of the

judgment itself has no bearing on the priority date. See § 38-35-

109(1), C.R.S. 2018.

¶ 10 Under section 13-52-102(2)(a), a judgment has a life of twenty

years.2 A judgment lien has a life of six years from the date of the

underlying judgment. § 13-52-102(1). To extend an existing

judgment lien, the judgment creditor must revive the judgment and

record a transcript of the revived judgment before the existing lien

expires. Id.

2 A judgment creditor may extend the life of a judgment by reviving
the judgment. § 13-52-102(2)(a), C.R.S. 2018.

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¶ 11 These statutes do not explicitly address the questions raised

here: (1) whether a judgment creditor may obtain a new judgment

lien after a prior judgment lien has expired; (2) whether a judgment

creditor may obtain a judgment lien after six years have elapsed

since the entry of judgment and no judgment lien was previously

obtained; and (3) if the answer is “yes” to those questions, whether

the judgment creditor must first revive the underlying judgment.

¶ 12 Both a state statute and a rule of civil procedure bear on these

questions. Section 13-52-102 says, in relevant part:

(1) . . . A transcript of the judgment record . . .
may be recorded in any county; and from the
time of recording such transcript . . . the
judgment shall become a lien upon all the real
estate . . . owned by such judgment debtor or
which such judgment debtor may afterwards
acquire in such county, until such lien expires.
The lien of such judgment shall expire six
years after the entry of judgment unless, prior
to the expiration of such six-year period, such
judgment is revived as provided by law and a
transcript of the judgment record of such
revived judgment . . . is recorded in the same
county in which the transcript of the original
judgment was recorded, in which event the lien
shall continue for six years from the entry of
the revived judgment. A lien may be obtained
with respect to a revived judgment in the same
manner as an original judgment and the lien of
a revived judgment may be continued in the

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same manner as the lien of an original
judgment. . . .

(2)(a) . . . [E]xecution may issue on any
judgment described in subsection (1) of this
section to enforce the same at any time within
twenty years from the entry thereof, but not
afterwards, unless revived as provided by law,
and, after twenty years from the entry of final
judgment in any court of this state, the
judgment shall be considered as satisfied in
full, unless so revived.

¶ 13 C.R.C.P. 54(h) says, in relevant part:

To revive a judgment a motion shall be filed
alleging the date of the judgment and the
amount thereof which remains unsatisfied. . . .
A revived judgment must be entered within
twenty years after the entry of the judgment
which it revives, and may be enforced and
made a lien in the same manner and for like
period as an original judgment. If a judgment
is revived before the expiration of any lien
created by the original judgment, the filing of
the transcript of the entry of revivor in the
register of actions with the clerk and recorder
of the appropriate county before the expiration
of such lien shall continue that lien for the
same period from the entry of the revived
judgment as is provided for original
judgments. Revived judgments may
themselves be revived in the manner herein
provided.

¶ 14 Read together, these provisions provide that a creditor may

obtain a judgment lien at any time during the twenty-year life of a

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judgment, but if more than six years have passed since the entry of

judgment, the creditor must first revive the judgment.

¶ 15 The plain language of section 13-52-102(2)(a) –– “execution

may issue . . . to enforce the [judgment] at any time” within the

twenty-year life of the judgment –– compels the conclusion that a

judgment creditor may obtain a judgment lien at any time during

that period, even after an original judgment lien has expired.3

(Emphasis added.) Notably, while both section 13-52-102 and

C.R.C.P. 54(h) contemplate that a judgment may be enforced at any

time during its life, neither contains any language prohibiting a

judgment creditor from obtaining a judgment lien after an initial

judgment lien has expired, but before the end of the judgment’s

twenty-year life.

¶ 16 Section 13-52-102(1) expressly and unambiguously provides

that a judgment lien expires six years after the entry of the

judgment (not the date of issuance or recordation of any transcript

3 For purposes of our analysis, there is no distinction between (1) a
judgment creditor obtaining a new judgment lien after a prior
judgment lien has expired and (2) a judgment creditor obtaining a
judgment lien more than six years from the date of judgment when
no prior judgment lien has been obtained.

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of judgment). Therefore, the recordation of a transcript of

judgment, without more, after the expiration of the six-year period,

accomplishes nothing because any such lien has expired.

¶ 17 This dilemma is solved if, but only if, the creditor revives the

judgment prior to recordation of the transcript of judgment. In that

event, the lien created by the recordation of the transcript of the

revived judgment is valid for six years from the date of the revived

judgment.4

IV. Conclusion

¶ 18 The order denying Marshall’s motion for revival of judgment is

reversed, and the case is remanded for the district court to address

that motion.

JUDGE ROMÁN and JUDGE RICHMAN concur.

4 If the creditor records a transcript of judgment within six years of
the date of the judgment, a judgment lien is created. That lien
expires six years from the date of the judgment, unless, before the
expiration of the six-year period, the creditor revives the judgment,
obtains a transcript of judgment of the revived judgment, and
records the transcript. In that event, the revived judgment lien
maintains the original priority date of the originally recorded
transcript of judgment because it is a continuation of the initial
judgment lien, rather than a new lien. See § 13-52-102(1); C.R.C.P.
54(h).

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