BILL NUMBER:  S5219

 TITLE OF BILL :

An act to amend the civil practice law and rules, in relation to
increasing penalties for failure to execute and file satisfied
judgments with the court clerk


 PURPOSE :

This bill would raise the fine (from $100 to $1000) on people who do
not execute and file satisfied judgments with the court clerk. The
goal is to encourage individuals to file so that it will be less
likely that someone will have false strikes on their credit report.

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Section one amends subdivision ( c) of section 5020 of the civil
practice law a rules to raise the fine for failing to execute and file
a satisfied judgment with the proper clerk from one hundred to one
thousand dollars.

Section two sets out the effective date.

 JUSTIFICATION :
              

This bill amends the Civil Practice Law and Rules and affects every
civil judgment.  Under current law, an individual who receives a
satisfied judgement from the court must file a satisfaction of
judgment. Most entities such as credit card companies do this as a
matter of standard business practice because such satisfactions (or
lack thereat) are picked up by credit bureaus. If the entity does not
file a satisfaction (even if they got one) and the credit bureau picks
it up, then the credit rating of the individual involved in the
dispute is affected.

At issue now is the fact that the judgments in housing court and
elsewhere are starting to be picked up by credit rating agencies.
However, many landlords often fail to file a satisfaction of judgment
and so judgments can end up on a tenant's credit report as unpaid,
even if that is not true. This bad credit rating disproportionately
affects low income citizens because it means that they must pay more
for things such as credit cards, car loans and mortgages.

This legislation will most likely affect housing disputes since most
other businesses automatically file a satisfaction of judgment. The
goal is to increase tines and therefore give landlords and other
entities a greater incentive to remember to file satisfactions of
judgment. This will result in a decrease in the number of individuals
whose credit ratings are affected by a claimant's failure to file a
satisfaction of judgment.

 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None.

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after it
shall become a law.