Harriet Nicholson v. Bank of New York Mellon, fka Bank of New York, Trustee for the Certificate Holders of CWMBS, Inc., CWMBS Reforming Loan Remic Trust Certificates Series 005-R2

Petitioner obtained a final Texas judgment voiding a foreclosure deed and restoring her rights in her homestead, but the judgment did not contain operative words of conveyance and required Respondent to execute a corrective instrument to “put title back into the plaintiff.” Respondent never executed that instrument, and under Texas law the judgment therefore remains unsatisfied. Despite this, the federal courts below treated the incomplete judgment as fully preclusive under 28 U.S.C. § 1738, allowing Respondent to invoke an unsatisfied state judgment to bar Petitioner’s federal claims—granting the judgment greater effect than Texas law itself would allow. The question presented is: Whether 28 U.S.C. § 1738 permits a federal court to give a state-court judgment greater preclusive effect than the rendering State would allow, by permitting a party to invoke that judgment to bar claims notwithstanding that the judgment remains unsatisfied under state law.