Friedman
Fidelity National Financial Inc. v. Friedman
Opinion
Opinion
Thomas, J.
ORDER
In this case, an appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona, we are asked to decide whether actions taken by Fidelity National Financial Inc. (“Fidelity”) were sufficient under Arizona law to renew the prior registration of a judgment against Colin and Hedy Friedman. Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes § 12-1861 and Arizona Supreme Court Rule 27, we ask the Arizona Supreme Court to address the questions of law described below.
I. Statement of Relevant Facts
A Procedural Background
Fidelity successfully sued Colin and Hedy Friedman and Farid and Anita Meshkatai in 2002 to recover the $8 million that Fidelity paid Defendants to purchase a worthless company that Defendants fraudulently represented to Fidelity was worth $8 million. Judgment was entered in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California. That court certified that Fidelity had “good cause” under 28 U.S.C. § 1963 to register this judgment in another federal court even though, because the appeal was pending, the judgment was not yet final. Fidelity registered the judgment in U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona on November 21, 2002. Fidelity tried,…