North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1826. Judgments and awards on foreign-money claims, times of money conversion; form of judgments
(a) Except as provided in subsection (c) of this section, a judgment or award on a foreign-money claim must be stated in an amount of the money of the claim.
(b) A judgment or award on a foreign-money claim is payable in that foreign money or, at the option of the debtor, in the amount of United States dollars that will purchase that foreign money on the conversion date at a bank-offered spot rate.
(c) A judgment or award on a foreign-money claim shall assess costs in United States dollars.
(d) Each payment in United States dollars shall be accepted and credited on a judgment or award on a foreign-money claim in the amount of the foreign money that could be purchased by the dollars at a bank-offered spot rate of exchange at or near the close of business on the conversion date for that payment.
(e) A judgment or award made in an action or distribution proceeding on:
(1) A defense, setoff, recoupment, or counterclaim, and
Terms Used In North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1826
- Action: means a judicial proceeding or arbitration in which a payment in money may be awarded or enforced with respect to a foreign-money claim. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Bank-offered spot rate: means the spot rate of exchange at which a bank will sell foreign money at a spot rate. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
- Conversion date: means the banking day next preceding the date on which money, in accordance with this Article, is:
- Counterclaim: A claim that a defendant makes against a plaintiff.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Distribution proceeding: means a judicial or nonjudicial proceeding for the distribution of a fund in which one or more foreign-money claims is asserted and includes an accounting, an assignment for the benefit of creditors, a foreclosure, the liquidation or rehabilitation of a corporation or other entity, and the distribution of an estate, trust, or other fund. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- following: when used by way of reference to any section of a statute, shall be construed to mean the section next preceding or next following that in which such reference is made; unless when some other section is expressly designated in such reference. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
- Foreign money: means money other than money of the United States. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- Foreign-money claim: means a claim upon an obligation to pay, or a claim for recovery of a loss, expressed in or measured by a foreign money. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Money: means a medium of exchange for the payment of obligations or a store of value authorized or adopted by a government or by intergovernmental agreement. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Person: means an individual, a corporation, government or governmental subdivision or agency, business trust, estate, trust, joint venture, partnership, association, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any other legal or commercial entity. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- Plaintiff: The person who files the complaint in a civil lawsuit.
- Rate of exchange: means the rate at which money of one country may be converted into money of another country in a free financial market convenient to or reasonably usable by a person obligated to pay or to state a rate of conversion. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- Spot rate: means the rate of exchange at which foreign money is sold by a bank or other dealer in foreign exchange for immediate or next day availability or for settlement by immediate payment in cash or its equivalent, by charge to an account, or by an agreed delayed settlement not exceeding two days. See North Carolina General Statutes 1C-1820
- United States: shall be construed to include the said district and territories and all dependencies. See North Carolina General Statutes 12-3
(2) The adverse party’s claim
shall be netted by converting the money of the smaller into the money of the larger, and by subtracting the smaller from the larger and shall specify the rates of exchange used.
(f) A judgment substantially in the following form satisfies the provisions of this section:
“It is ORDERED, ADJUDGED, AND DECREED that defendant (insert name) pay to Plaintiff (insert name) the sum of (insert amount in the foreign money) plus interest on that sum at the rate of (insert rate pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1C-1828) percent a year or, at the option of the judgment debtor, the number of United States dollars that will purchase the (insert name of foreign money) with interest due, at a bank-offered spot rate at or near the close of business on the banking day next before the day of payment, together with assessed costs of (insert amount) United States dollars.”
(g) If a contract claim is of the type covered by N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1C-1824(a) or N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1C-1824(b), the judgment or award shall be entered for the amount of money stated to measure the obligation to be paid in the money specified for payment or, at the option of the debtor, the number of United States dollars that will purchase the computed amount of the money of payment on the conversion date at a bank-offered spot rate.
(h) A judgment shall be filed, docketed, and indexed in foreign money in the same manner as other judgments and has the same effect as a lien. A judgment may be discharged by payment.
(i) A party seeking enforcement of a judgment entered as provided in this section shall file with each request or application an affidavit or certificate executed in good faith by its counsel or a bank officer, stating the rate of exchange used and how it was obtained and setting forth the calculation and the amount of United States dollars that would satisfy the judgment on the date of the affidavit or certificate by applying that rate of exchange. Affected court officials shall incur no liability, after a filing of the affidavit or certificate, for acting as if the judgment were in the amount of United States dollars stated in the affidavit or certificate. The computation contained in the affidavit or certificate shall remain in effect for 90 days following the filing of the affidavit or certificate and may be recomputed before the expiration of 90 days by filing additional affidavits or certificates. Recomputation shall not affect any payment obtained before the filing of the recomputation.
(j) When a payment is made to a clerk’s office pursuant to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-239, the clerk may determine the spot rate of exchange on the conversion date on the basis of information received in good faith from any bank officer or other reliable source and shall incur no liability to any person for crediting a payment toward a judgment, or for marking a judgment satisfied in full, on the basis of the rate so determined. (1995, c. 213, s. 1.)