WEST virginia legislature

2017 regular session

Committee Substitute

for

Senate Bill 249

By Senator Trump

[Originating in the Committee on the Judiciary; reported on February 16, 2017]

A BILL to amend and reenact §38-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating generally to the information required in an abstract of judgment; including, to the extent possible, the present address and date of birth of the judgment debtor in abstract of judgment; and clarifying that compliance with this section does not constitute a violation of state law or create a civil cause of action.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:

That §38-3-4 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:

ARTICLE 3. JUDGMENT LIENS.

§38-3-4. Abstracts of judgments; damages or penalty for failure of clerk or justice to deliver.

(a) The clerk of every court of this state shall, without delay, make out and deliver a duly certified abstract of every judgment rendered by such court, and every justice of the peace shall, without delay, make out and deliver a duly certified abstract of every judgment rendered by him or her or by any other justice, the docket of which judgment is in his or her possession and under his or her control, to any person interested therein who may demand the same, and pay or tender the fee therefor, in which abstract shall be stated: (a) (1) The names in full of the plaintiff or plaintiffs, and the defendant or defendants, as they appear in the papers and proceedings in the cause, and if the defendants are sued as partners, the individual names of such defendants, and also the partnership name shall be stated; (b) (2) the amount of the judgment and the amount of the costs, stating each separately; (c) (3) the value of the specific property (,if any), recovered by it, and the damages, if any, for its detention; (d) (4) the date of the judgment and the court in which, or the justice by whom, the judgment was rendered; and (5) to the extent possible, the present address and the date of birth of the judgment debtor.  Any clerk or justice who shall fail to deliver such abstract as herein required shall, together with the sureties in his or her official bond, be liable to the person injured by such failure for the amount of his or her injury, or such injured person may, at his or her option, recover $50 from such clerk or justice.

(b) Compliance with the provisions of subsection (a) of this section shall not constitute a violation of any other provision of this code, nor shall it form the basis for any common law cause of action.