Gray1 CPB, LLC v. SCC Acquisitions, Inc.

Facts

In August 2010, Plaintiff obtained a judgment in excess of $9.1 million plus interest from Defendants as a result of Defendants’ failure to make good on their guaranties of a loan made to Elieff’s LLC. These guaranties each contained a provision for the award of attorney fees. Defendants did not pay on the judgment until June 8, 2012, when Defendants’ attorney hand delivered to Plaintiff’s attorneys a cashier’s check in the amount of $12,918,654.46. Defendants claimed this amount was in full satisfaction of the judgment plus accumulated interest. Twelve days later, Plaintiff filed a motion for postjudgment costs, including attorney fees incurred attempting to enforce the judgment amounting to over $3.1 million. Defendants argued that the motion for postjudgment costs was time-barred because such motions must be filed before judgment has been satisfied. Plaintiff argued since it had not yet received the postjudgment costs it was entitled to, Defendants had not yet fully satisfied the judgment. Plaintiff also argued that even if the cashier’s check delivered by Defendants’ counsel was sufficient to satisfy the judgment, the judgment was not satisfied under the law until the check was honored by the issuing bank. In this case, that would have been several days after Plaintiff filed the motion for postjudgment costs. The trial court found that Plaintiff’s motion for postjudgment costs was untimely and Plaintiff appealed.