(a) Whenever a judgment is recovered by a public agency named in Section 6103, either as plaintiff or petitioner or as defendant or respondent, in any action or proceeding to begin, or to defend, which under the provisions of Section 6103 no fee for any official service rendered by the clerk of the court, including, but not limited to, the services of filing, certifying, and preparing transcripts, nor fee for service of process or notices by a sheriff or marshal has been paid, other than in a condemnation proceeding, quiet title action, action for the forfeiture of a fish net or nets or action for the forfeiture of an automobile or automobiles, the clerk entering the judgment shall include as a part of the judgment the amount of the filing fee, and the amount of the fee for the service of process or notices which would have been paid but for Section 6103, designating it as such. The clerk entering the judgment shall include as part of the judgment the amount of the fees for certifying and preparing transcripts if the court has, in its discretion, ordered those fees to be paid.
(b) When an amount equal to the clerk’s fees and the fees for service of process and notices is collected upon a judgment pursuant to subdivision (a), those amounts shall be due and payable to the clerk and the serving officer respectively. The clerk shall ascertain from the serving officer’s return the amount of fees he or she would have charged had it not been for the provisions of Section 6103. Remittances of the amounts so due shall be made within 45 days by the fiscal officer of the plaintiff or petitioner or respondent or defendant in the action or proceeding unless those fees have been collected by the levying officer and remitted to the court. No interest shall be computed or charged on the amount of the fee. If the judgment pursuant to subdivision (a) consists only of the amount of the filing fee, it shall be at the public agency’s discretion whether to seek collection. If the public agency determines not to seek collection of the filing fee, it shall notify the clerk and no further action as provided for in this section may be brought against the public agency.
(c) If the remittance is not received within 45 days of the filing of a partial satisfaction of judgment in an amount at least equal to the fees due to the clerk or a satisfaction of judgment has been filed, notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided in subdivision (b), the court may issue a writ of execution for recovery from the public agency of those fees plus the fees for issuance and execution of the writ plus a fee for administering this section.
(d) The superior court shall set a fee, not to exceed the actual costs of administering this section, up to a maximum of twenty-five dollars ($25), which shall be added to the writ of execution.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 784, Sec. 124. Effective January 1, 2003.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018