1418                               Laws of Maryland                          Ch. 534

§ 7-210. Payment upon judgment.

The payment of a judgment arising out of an accident or the pay-
ment upon the judgment of an amount equal to the maximum amount
which could be required for deposit under this subtitle, for the pur-
poses of this part, releases the judgment debtor from the liability
evidenced by the judgment.

§ 7-210.1. Payment to department when judgment creditor cannot
be found.

(a)    The department shall not suspend a license or registration
of a motor vehicle and shall restore any license or registration sus-
pended because of non-payment of a final judgment when the judg-
ment debtor gives satisfactory evidence that he has been unable
to locate the judgment creditor or has made a bona fide tender in the
amount of the judgment to the judgment creditor and thereupon
pays the amount of the judgment, with interest, to the department.

(b)    The department shall forthwith transmit this sum to the
Treasurer to be credited to a special account and be paid on demand
to the judgment creditor or his legal representative.

(c)    If neither the judgment creditor nor his legal representative
make demand for the amount within three years from the date the
payment was made to the department, the judgment debtor, or his
legal representative, shall be entitled to have the amount refunded
to him.

§ 7-210.2. Disposition of deposits when payee not located.

(a)    Whenever the department holds a check or payment due to
any person, firm, association, or corporation, and the payee, or per-
son or persons claiming through him or it, cannot be located after
five years of reasonable effort, or if the checks or payments due
remain unpresented or unclaimed for a period of five years, the
funds shall be disposed of as in this section provided.

(b)    During the month of December following the end of the five-
year period, the department shall publish the name of the payee,
as shown by its records, in a newspaper of general circulation in
the city or county in which the payee is believed to have lived, if
the city or county is in the State of Maryland. If the payee is be-
lieved to have lived outside the State of Maryland, the publication
shall be in a newspaper of general circulation in the city or county
in which the department has its main office. In either event, the
publication shall give notice to the payee, and to any person or
persons claiming through him or it, warning him or them within six
months following the date of publication, to present information re-
lating to his or their identity and present address; and if the
information is presented and in the judgment of the department a
valid claim has been presented for the funds, payment shall be made
accordingly.

(c)    If within the six-months' period no such information is pre-
sented, or if in the judgment of the department a valid claim has not
been presented for the funds, the department thereafter shall forth-
with deduct the pro rata cost of the publication from the amount
due the payee and pay over the remainder to the Motor Vehicle