Section 10-1-381. Final order; collection of judgment; disbursement of funds, consumer preventive education plan

   (a) The administrator may file in the superior court of the county in which a person under order resides, or in the county in which the violation occurred, or, if the person is a corporation, in the county in which the corporation maintains its principal place of business, a certified copy of a final order issued pursuant to this article by the administrator which is unappealed from or a final order of an administrative law judge issued pursuant to this article which is unappealed from or a final order of an administrative law judge issued pursuant to this article which is affirmed upon appeal, whereupon the court shall render judgment in accordance therewith and notify the parties. The judgment shall have the same effect, and all proceedings in relation thereto shall thereafter be the same as though the judgment had been rendered in an action duly heard and determined by the court.

(b) The administrator may file in the superior court of the county in which the person obligated to pay funds over to the administrator resides, or in the county in which the violation or alleged violation occurred, or, if the person is a corporation, in the county in which the corporation maintains its principal place of business, a certified copy of any document under which funds are due to the administrator based on obligations created in the administration of this article, whether obtained through official action, compromise, settlement, assurance of voluntary compliance, or otherwise, and are delinquent according to the terms of the document creating the obligation, whereupon the court shall render judgment in accordance therewith and notify the parties. The judgment shall have the same effect, and all proceedings in relation thereto shall thereafter be the same as though the judgment had been rendered in an action duly heard and determined by the court.

(c) The court shall specify that any funds to be collected under the judgment shall be disbursed by the administrator in accordance with the terms of the original order or in accordance with the terms of the original document creating the obligation, subject to the provisions of Code Section 10-1-382. Such funds may have been designated in the original order or in the original document to be applied to consumer restitution, to reimbursement of funds from which investigative expenses were paid, to civil penalties to be disbursed into the consumer preventive education plan, to civil penalties to be disbursed into the state general fund, or any combination thereof.

(d) In original orders or original documents the administrator may designate that civil penalties shall be applied to the consumer preventive education plan; in that event, such funds shall not be applied in an aggregate amount which is any greater than the amount of funds appropriated for the consumer preventive education plan. Any amount of civil penalties which exceeds the appropriation for the consumer preventive education plan shall be disbursed into the state general fund.

(e) All judgments obtained pursuant to this Code section shall be considered delinquent if unpaid 30 calendar days after the judgment is rendered.

(f) The administrator is authorized to establish a consumer preventive education plan.

Code 1981, § 10-1-381, enacted by Ga. L. 1997, p. 1511, § 1; Ga. L. 1998, p. 128, § 10.