Wertheim, LLC v. Currency Corp.

*1127 After Wertheim LLC obtained a money judgment against Currency Corporation, Currency obtained a bond to secure the judgment and appealed. We affirmed the judgment and issued a remittitur in July 2012. Wertheim sought to satisfy the judgment from the appeal bond but Currency blocked disbursement. After the issuer deposited the bond funds with the superior court and withdrew itself from the dispute, Wertheim and Currency litigated their respective entitlement to the funds, resulting in another trial and two more appeals that ultimately determined the parties' rights under the judgment.

In 2016, Wertheim moved for postjudgment enforcement costs pursuant to *213 Code of Civil Procedure section 685.080, 1 which requires that such costs be sought by noticed motion before the judgment is "satisfied." The trial court denied Wertheim's motion as untimely on the ground that the bond issuer's deposit of appeal bond funds with the superior court satisfied the judgment long before Wertheim's motion, notwithstanding Currency's successful efforts to forestall disbursement.

We reverse. Disputed funds on deposit with the superior court do not satisfy a judgment for purposes of a…