Legal

Cause No. D-n GN-0n-00-nnnn

PLAINTIFF BANK OF GEORGIA

Plaintiff

v.

DEFENDANT

Defendant

§
§

IN THE DISTRICT COURT

OF SOME COUNTY, TEXAS

SOME JUDICIAL DISTRICT

OBJECTION TO FILING FOREIGN JUDGMENT

and

MOTION TO DISMISS/BAR ACTION

OBJECTION TO FILING FOREIGN JUDGMENT

Comes now the Defendant objecting to Plaintiff’s cause to file a foreign judgment on the grounds that such action is bared by the ten-year time as set forth in Section 16.066 (b) of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code.

“Section 16.066 (b) An action against a person who has resided in this state for 10 years prior to the action may not be brought on a foreign judgment rendered more than 10 years before the commencement of the action in this state. “

FACTS:
1.	Plaintiff’s foreign judgment, on which this cause is based, was rendered in the circuit court of Somewhere, Georgia, on the 4^th of June, 1986, considerably more than ten years ago, as evidenced by the certified attachments to Plaintiff’s Notice of Filing Foreign Judgment Pursuant to Code 35.004 of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code, said Notice mailed to Defendant by certified mail dated 15 Sep 1999.
2.	Defendant has resided in the state of Texas more than ten years after the entry of said foreign judgment, which Plaintiff now seeks to file in Texas, being resident before and during the period from 4 June 1986 until 4 June 1996, and then after until the present. Defendant’s physical presence and residence in Texas is evidenced the attached Affidavit of Residence and certified/authenticated presumptive documents and other corroborative documents presented in the attached Supporting documents.

MOTION TO DISMISS/BAR ACTION

In accordance with the aforementioned facts and law set forth above, Plaintiff’s is forever barred from pursuing any action at law in the State of Texas regarding said foreign judgment.

Accordingly, the Defendant requests this honorable court to dismiss Plaintiff’s aforementioned Notice with prejudice and/or order Plaintiff forever barred from any filing in the State of Texas of the aforementioned foreign judgment.

(signed)
Defendant, Pro Se

mailing address

Somewhere, Texas

DEFENDANT

Attachments:

1. Affidavit of Residence (click on link to view)

2. Supporting Documents (These were attested copies of Texas drivers licenses, Texas voter registration certificates, and Texas professional licenses over the span of 13 years. Not present them here for privacy concerns.)

Certificate of Service (attached to the pleading and filed as part of the pleading. (That way it is a part of the court record.)

NOTES (not part of the pleadings):

1. Texas has no formal, established procedures for simultaneously adjudicating a Foreign Judgment brought to Texas under §35.003 and §35.004, and affirmative defenses raised under Limitations §16.066 of the Texas Civil Practices and Remedies Code. Under Texas jurisprudence, the Foreign Judgment is executable on the instance of being filed with the Texas clerk of court. Most Texas Clerk of Courts will delay issuance of an Abstract of the Foreign Judgment while you fight it out in court. A Texas Abstract is required before a Texas Writ of Execution to seize your property can be issued. If all your property is exempt under the Texas Property Code, then it can't be seized anyway. If you have vulnerable non-exempt property, you could ask the Court to Stay of Execution, but you might have to post a sizable bond as a condition of the Stay.

2. No suggested form for raising an affirmative defense was found, so this was created as if objecting to a motion. Perhaps it should have been titled as an Answer, or Answer in Objection, rather than just an Objection. Anyway, it is still an answer to the Plaintiff's cause, and no filing fees were required.. It also could have more properly presented as a counter-claim, but then it might have had incurred a filing fee of a few hundred dollars. For pro-se defendants, the Court is obligated to treat defense as if brought in the proper manner, no matter how improperly brought.

3. Not sure what the proper way is to undue a Foreign Judgment once it is filed in Texas. What is assumed here is that it can be simply dismissed with or without prejudice - as long as no Texas abstract has been created and no property has actually been seized. The adjudication of a foreign judgment, and affirmative defenses to it, seem to be muddy waters in Texas.

4. Note that no case-law citations are used here. That's because none were found.. There are probably plenty in Nexis Lexis or other lawyer services, but these require expensive subscription fees to access. The absence of good citation sources is the bane of pro se litigants. It might be worthwhile to pay an attorney or a law clerk for the privilege of searching for citations using their subscribed services.

5. It might be good practice to make three originals of the pleading, signing all three copies, personally taking all three copies to the courthouse and having all three copies originally date-time stamped by the intake clerk. The clerk keeps one as the "original" and then one copy is for the opposing party, and one copy for Defendant's records. Then you can go directly to the post office and mail the opposing party their date-time stamped copy by certified, return-receipt mail. Keep all the receipts and the returned green card for proof of service should service on the opposing party ever be challenged. Also, it is possible for the clerks to lose the filed copy (it has happened) , and having an original date-time stamped copy facilitates replacement..