Collecting judgement from auto accident

[vickie704]

Alabama
A man backed into my vehicle which was parked causing over $1,000 in damages. He refused to give any insurance info. I won in small claims court since he refused to respond or appear. The problem is he lives in Louisiana. I know only his home address from the police report and he told the policeman his occupation is a church minister. I don't know the name of the church or anything else about him. Since he is in another state and I know virtually nothing about him, how will I be able to collect the judgement?

 

[JETX]

I know only his home address from the police report and he told the policeman his occupation is a church minister. I don't know the name of the church or anything else about him. Since he is in another state and I know virtually nothing about him, how will I be able to collect the judgement?

Ah, the fun starts. First, you will have to domesticate your Alabama judgment into the Louisiana courts. Then, using the Louisiana judgment, you will have to pursue enforcement against the judgment debtor using the methods (garnishment, lien, seizure, etc.) as allowed by Louisiana laws.
And since Louisiana law is unlike any of the other states (their laws are based on the Napoleonic Code and not Common law), I predict this will be an interesting journey.

You might chose to sell your judgment to one of the individuals/company's at:
http://www.enforcemyjudgment.com/cgi-bin/search.cgi?action=search&infield=your_state&words=Louisiana&search=Search

 

[Tayla]

SIDEBAR: Wouldnt the plaintiff and/or the courts have to properly serve the defendent? Wouldnt the suit have to be brought about in the state of residency of said defendent in order for the judgement to be collected?
If a default judgement can simply be entered based on a name and address heck I could open a phone book from another state and just request for a judgement. Granted thats a poor example...yet plausible based on the information stated in the original post. How did the police get the mans occupation and not the insurance information? Some facts seem to be missing here.

*footnote : Not meaning to hijack this post just trying to gather an idea how this situation came about without some of the important data being conveyed.

 

[JETX]

Wouldnt the plaintiff and/or the courts have to properly serve the defendent?

Yes. And at this point, we have no evidence whether the OP was properly served as provided by law, or not.

Wouldnt the suit have to be brought about in the state of residency of said defendent in order for the judgement to be collected?

No. Though that is preferred in most cases, there are several circumstances where that is not required. For example, if a venue clause is in the contract stating a different state. Another is if the plaintiff is in one state and can show, if challenged, that the state has jurisdiction in the matter. In any case where the judgment was rendered in a state other than that where the judgment debtors assets are located, that out-of-state judgment would require to be domesticated into the debtors home state in order to reach those assets to enforce the judgment.

If a default judgement can simply be entered based on a name and address heck I could open a phone book from another state and just request for a judgement.

Yep, you can do that. And the defendant would have the right to file a motion to dismiss due to lack of jurisdiction.

How did the police get the mans occupation and not the insurance information?

Gee, I would imagine they asked.

 

[vickie704]

Alabama

To answer a few questions, the defendant was served via registered mail from the small claims court. He signed for the letter sent out by the court but did not respond within the 14 day period allowed by the court. The address came from his driver's license and was part of the police report. How do I get the judgement "domesticated" into Louisiana? Will it require hiring an attorney? Also, what contract are you referring to for the venue clause? I'm starting to get a sick feeling that I'm facing the impossible. No wonder he actually dared me to try and sue him.

 

[vickie704]

I forgot to ask one other question in my previous reply. Let's assume the judgement is domesticated in Louisiana, how then would I be able to collect since I know nothing but his home address? I don't know his employer or bank account in order to garnish funds.

 

[LdiJ]

I forgot to ask one other question in my previous reply. Let's assume the judgement is domesticated in Louisiana, how then would I be able to collect since I know nothing but his home address? I don't know his employer or bank account in order to garnish funds.

All that is why you might want to consider the second idea of selling the judgement to one of the companies listed on the link you were given.

All in all, with travel and everything else, you would probably end up spending more enforcing the judgement than you would end up collecting....assuming you can collect at all.