Bulletin: WA000052

Dear Associates:

Our owner's policy was issued without taking an exception to a judgment against the former owner because said judgment from another county was only recorded with the county recorder and not abstracted and filed with the county clerk pursuant to statute.

We were forced to buy the judgment and protect our insured when the judgment creditor threatened to execute on said judgment. The creditor was able to do this under an appellate court case as reported in 85 Wa App 580 and 933 Pac 2nd 1084, April 7, 1997, herein recited in part:

Court of Appeals: Holding that the judgment creditor's lien on homestead property was perfected at the time the judgment was recorded with the county auditor...

This is a change from past court decisions but is consistent with the Washington homestead statute.

Therefore, whenever we find a judgment in our title search, if the judgment is filed with a county clerk or recorded with a county auditor, said judgment should be shown as an exception in Schedule B of the commitment and/or policy.