Legal Question in Civil Litigation in California

I hope for you that it's not a full ten years, because if it is there is nothing you can do. Judgments can and must be renewed every ten years or they expire. So if it has been less than ten full years, get down to the courthouse and renew your judgment right away. As long as you have a valid judgment in place you can use all the same enforcement of judgment tools such as garnished wages, real property liens, and levies on accounts and business income, as if the judgment was entered last week, but if you let it expire, it's gone for good.

Mr. McCormick is right. To clarify the second part of his answer, if your judgment is still in place, then there is no reason to take the defendant back to court. You need only enforce the judgment you already have. But if that judgment has expired, you can't sue him a second time on the same claim. And even if you were suing for the first time, your claim would almost certainly be time-barred.

Either enforce the judgment that is in place, or if it has expired and Sue again.

Make sure no statute of limitations has taken effect