AN ACT to give effect to electronic judgment dockets by modernizing laws regarding judgments and reestablishing the effective date of civil judgment liens and the date from which interest accrues on judgments.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 1‑232 reads as rewritten:
"§ 1‑232.  Judgment roll.
Unless the party or his attorney furnishes a judgment  roll or the documents referred to in this section are already on file, the clerk, immediately after entering the judgment, shall attach together and file the following papers which constitute the judgment roll:
(1)	In case the complaint is not answered by any defendant, the summons and complaint, or copies thereof, proof of service, and that no answer has been received, the report, if any, and a copy of the judgment.
(2)	In all other cases, the summons, pleadings, or copies thereof, and a copy of the judgment, with any verdict or report, the offer of the defendant, exceptions, case, and all orders and papers in any way involving the merits and necessarily affecting the judgment."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 1‑233 reads as rewritten:
"§ 1‑233.  Docketed and indexed.
Every judgment of the superior or district court, affecting  title to real property, or requiring in whole or in part the payment of money, shall be  indexed and recorded by the clerk of said superior court on the judgment docket of the court. The docket entry must contain the file number for the case in which the judgment was entered, the names of the parties, the address, if known, of each party and against whom judgment is rendered,  the relief granted,  the date, hour, and minute of  the entry of judgment under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 58, and the date, hour, and minute of the indexing of the judgment. The clerk shall keep a cross‑index of the whole, with the dates and file numbers thereof; however, error or omission in the entry of the address or addresses shall in no way affect the validity, finality or priority of the judgment docketed. "
SECTION 3.  G.S. 1‑234 reads as rewritten:
"§ 1‑234.  Where and how docketed; lien.
Upon the entry of a judgment under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 58, affecting the title of real property, or directing in whole or in part the payment of money,  the clerk of superior court shall index and record the judgment on the judgment docket of the court of the county where the judgment  was  entered. The judgment may be docketed on the judgment docket of the court of any other county upon the filing with the clerk thereof of a transcript of the original docket. The judgment lien is effective as against third parties from and after the indexing of the judgment as provided in G.S. 1-233. The judgment is a lien on the real property in the county where the same is docketed of every person against whom any such judgment is rendered, and which he has at the time of the docketing thereof in the county in which such real property is situated, or which he acquires at any time thereafter, for 10 years from the date of the  entry of the  judgment under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 58, in the county where the judgment was originally entered. But the time during which the party recovering or owning such judgment shall be, or shall have been, restrained from proceeding thereon by an order of injunction, or other order, or by the operation of any appeal, or by a statutory prohibition, does not constitute any part of the 10 years aforesaid, as against the defendant in such judgment, or the party obtaining such orders or making such appeal, or any other person who is not a purchaser, creditor or mortgagee in good faith.
A judgment docketed pursuant to G.S. 15A‑1340.38 shall constitute a lien against the property of a defendant as provided for under this section."
SECTION 4.  G.S. 24‑5 reads as rewritten:
"§ 24‑5.  Interest on judgments.
(a)	Actions on Contracts. – In an action for breach of contract, except an action on a penal bond, the amount awarded on the contract bears interest from the date of breach. The fact finder in an action for breach of contract shall distinguish the principal from the interest in the award, and the judgment shall provide that the principal amount bears interest until the judgment is satisfied. If the parties have agreed in the contract that the contract rate shall apply after judgment, then interest on an award in a contract action shall be at the contract rate after judgment; otherwise it shall be at the legal rate. On awards in actions on contracts pursuant to which credit was extended for personal, family, household, or agricultural purposes, however, interest shall be at the lower of the legal rate or the contract rate. For purposes of this section, "after judgment" means after the date of entry of judgment under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 58.
(a1)	Actions on Penal Bonds. – In an action on a penal bond, the amount of the judgment, except the costs, shall bear interest at the legal rate from the date of  entry of judgment under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 58, until the judgment is satisfied.
(b)	Other Actions. – In an action other than contract, any portion of a money judgment designated by the fact finder as compensatory damages bears interest from the date the action is commenced until the judgment is satisfied. Any other portion of a money judgment in an action other than contract, except the costs, bears interest from the date of  entry of judgment under G.S. 1A-1, Rule 58, until the judgment is satisfied. Interest on an award in an action other than contract shall be at the legal rate."
SECTION 5.  This act becomes effective September 1, 2003, and applies to all judgments entered, indexed, and docketed on or after that date.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 15th day of May, 2003.

	_____________________________________
		 Marc Basnight
	 President Pro Tempore of the Senate

	_____________________________________
		 Richard T. Morgan
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

	_____________________________________
		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2003