Is obtaining a judgment the final step in litigation? Not in the slightest. Enforcement procedures often require further efforts on the part of judgment creditors. In New York, articles 50 and 51 of the Civil Practice Law and Rules (CPLR) contain many judgment enforcement mechanisms that can be utilized in efforts meant to collect on a judgment. However, it is not uncommon for judgment debtors to move out of state before a judgment is fully satisfied. Diligent litigators must, therefore, be aware of how to enforce a judgment from a sister state in New York in order to recover on their efforts in obtaining the judgment in the first place.
While sister states may have a much simpler process of domesticating a foreign judgment (see New Jersey’s Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act, which mainly necessitates the recording of a foreign judgment with the court clerk), in New York, domestication may entail a different process, depending on the type of judgment obtained. Article 54 of the CPLR provides that foreign judgments will be entitled to full faith and credit, except that those obtained by default in appearance or confession will not be as simple to domesticate. While judgments obtained after the merits were adjudicated can simply be registered with the county clerk pursuant to CPLR § 5402, default judgments or those obtained by confession will only be given full faith and credit pursuant to CPLR §§ 5406 and 3213 through plenary action or motion for summary judgment in lieu of a complaint.