Oskerson v. Boudette

Nov 12, 2019

OUTCOME: Successful Appeal

Granite Peak Law, PLLC represented Tammy Boudette (now known as Tammy Oskerson) in an action to enforce an Arizona Decree of Dissolution of Marriage against her ex-husband Daniel Boudette in the Montan ... a First Judicial District Court, Broadwater County. Previous counsel for Oskerson registered the Arizona divorce decree inMontana under the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act. Six years after Tammy registered the Arizona the Arizona judgment in Montana, Daniel moved to extinguish the registered Arizona judgment because Arizona's statute of limitations for enforcing judgments had expired. In response, Granite Peak Law argued on Tammy's behalf that Montana's longer statute of limitations applied to foreign judgments filed in Montana. The district court granted the motion to extinguish, ruling that the Full Faith and Credit Clause required that Arizona law be Granite Peak Law appealed the ruling to the Montana Supreme Court. The Supreme Court reversed the judgment of the District Court, holding (1) Montana law allows a registered foreign judgment to be enforced just as a Montana judgment would be, and the principle of full faith and credit does not require forum states to apply foreign rendering states' statutes of limitation for enforcement; and (2) therefore, the Arizona judgment registered in Montana was subject to Montana's statute of limitations. https://law.justia.com/cases/montana/supreme-court/2019/da-19-0196.html