§ 9-13-80.Execution to be canceled when satisfied; private right of action; damages

Getting a judgment satisfied is only half the job; someone has to tell the clerk so the public record reflects that the debt is gone. Subsection (a) puts that duty on the creditor's side: once the entire debt behind an execution is satisfied, the plaintiff in execution or his or her attorney must timely direct the clerk to cancel the execution and mark the judgment satisfied, and that direction has to reach the clerk no later than 30 days after the debt was fully paid.

Subsection (b) gives that 30-day deadline actual bite. A judgment debtor gets a private right of action against a plaintiff or counsel who fails to comply, and the statute makes proving the case easier — if the plaintiff fails to direct cancellation and satisfaction within 60 days after the debt is fully satisfied, that delay is itself prima facie evidence of untimeliness. The debtor can pursue recovery either by motion in the original case or through a separate lawsuit. Damages are presumed at $100 without the debtor having to prove actual loss, and the court may add reasonable attorney's fees on top. A debtor who can show more than $100 in actual damages can recover those instead, but the statute caps that recovery at $500 no matter how much more the debtor lost, and the court may again add reasonable attorney's fees to that award.

Subsections (c) through (e) work out how a clerk enters satisfaction of record. Ordinarily that takes a satisfaction filed on the original or alias execution itself. Where the original execution has been lost, stolen, or otherwise mislaid, subsection (d) supplies a sworn affidavit, in a set form, that the plaintiff or the current holder of record can file and record in the execution docket instead. And where a creditor will not cooperate, subsection (e) gives the debtor's side a path around that silence: after mailing the creditor written notice by registered or certified mail or statutory overnight delivery, return receipt requested, and waiting 60 days without a proper satisfaction being filed, the debtor's attorney — or any attorney who caused the debt to be paid or who has actual knowledge that it was paid in full — can record an affidavit, backed by a written payoff verification and proof of payment such as a canceled check, wire confirmation, or bank receipt. Once that affidavit is properly recorded, the clerk is authorized and directed to cancel the execution — unlike the general filing route in subsection (c), which merely authorizes the clerk to enter satisfaction, subsection (e) leaves the clerk no discretion once its notice-and-60-day conditions are met. A clerk who cancels an execution through any of these authorized routes is immune from civil liability, official or personal, for doing so.

Subsection (f) backstops the whole system against abuse. Anyone who files a fraudulent affidavit under the lost-execution procedure in subsection (d) or the unresponsive-creditor procedure in subsection (e) commits a felony, punishable by one to three years' imprisonment, a fine of $1,000 to $5,000, or both.