460
Thomas, J., dissenting
Nothing in the law of judgment liens suggests that the possibility, which existed at the time the Bank docketed its judgment, that the McDermotts would not acquire the specific property here at issue was a "contingency" that rendered the Bank's otherwise perfected general judgment lien subordinate to intervening liens. Under the relevant background rules of state law, the Bank's interest in after-acquired real property generally could not be defeated by an intervening statutory lien. In some States, the priority of judgment liens in after-acquired property is determined by the order of their docketing. 3 R. Powell, Law of Real Property ¶ 481[1], p. 38-36 (P. Rohan rev. 1991) (hereinafter Powell). See, e. g., Lowe v. Reierson, 201 Minn. 280, 287, 276 N. W. 224, 227 (1937). In others, the rule is that "[w]hen two (or more) judgments are successively perfected against a debtor and thereafter the debtor acquires a land interest[,] these liens, attaching simultaneously at the time of the land's acquisition by the debtor, are regarded as on a parity and no priority exists." 3 Powell ¶ 481[1], pp. 38-35 to 38-36. See, e. g., Bank of Boston v. Haufler, 20 Mass. App. 668, 674, 482 N. E. 2d 542, 547 (1985); McAllen State Bank v. Saenz, 561 F. Supp. 636, 639 (SD Tex. 1982). Thus, under state common law, the Bank would either retain its full priority in the property by virtue of its earlier filing or, at a minimum, share an equal interest with the competing lienor.3 The fact that the prior judgment lien remains effective against third parties without further efforts by the judgment creditor is enough for purposes of
3 Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code is inapposite, and the Court's reliance on it misplaced. See ante, at 451-452. The technical rules governing the perfection and priority of the special security interests in personal property created by Article 9 have no application to traditional judgment liens in real property, see § 9-102, 3 U. L. A. 73 (1992), and should have no bearing on the federal doctrine of "choateness." In the context of determining the relative priority of a competing statutory judgment lien, it is Article 9's notion of perfection that is the more "unusual." Ante, at 451.
Page: Index Previous 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007