How to collect Judgement by NYC court in Florida?

We have Civil Court of the New York City Judgement agains Florida resident,who bought from us by check,took the item
and stopped the check.How to get him pay?
Garry.

You basically have two choices:

1) Find siezable assets of the debtor that are within the NY state jurisdiction, or

2) You will have to 'domesticate' the NY judgment to Florida so that you can use the Florida laws to attempt enforcement.
NOTE: This option is ONLY available if the judgment you have was NOT a default judgment. If so, it cannot be domesticated in Florida.

Now, if you have a bench or trial judgment AND you decide to send it to Florida, you will need to get an Exemplified copy of the NY judgment, then send the original to the appropriate court in Florida, with a filing fee (call the clerk in FL for fees). The Florida court will then record the judgment into THEIR books and assign it a Florida case number. You then use that case number to avail yourself of the Florida laws for judgment enforcement. (If all this is too complicated, contact me at my website shown in the signature lines and I will see if I can find a Judgment Recovery Specialist in Florida that would consider your case).

Hi,

Just curious, you seem to know what you're talking about.

Why is it, in the poster's situation, a judgmement would HAVE to be not won by default in New York to domesticate it into Florida?

- Bill

Florida Statute, Title IX, Chapter 55 covers foreign judgments. A copy of same can be found at:
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=Ch0055/ch0055.htm

Though some states specifically defer acceptance of default judgments, in reviewing the Statute, Florida does not exclude them specifically. However, Florida statute does allow the debtor to contest the validity of the (default) judgment.

"55.509 Stay of enforcement of foreign judgment.--
(1) If, within 30 days after the date the foreign judgment is recorded, the judgment debtor files an action contesting the jurisdiction of the court which entered the foreign judgment or the validity of the foreign judgment and records a lis pendens directed toward the foreign judgment, the court shall stay enforcement of the foreign judgment and the judgment lien upon the filing of the action by the judgment
debtor."

In order to understand this sections impact, you need to understand that default judgments are considered 'weak' judgments and are susceptable to the following challenges:
1) Service: The debtor can claim that he was not served properly, not in the correct capacity, or not in his/her correct legal entity (name). If any of these are correct, the judgment can be voided.
2) Jurisdiction: The debtor can claim that the legal action took place out of the correct jurisdiction and he was not aware of the lawsuit.
3) Appearance: The debtor can claim that he contacted the court before scheduled appearance and had arranged a reset of the date; extenuating circumstances, etc. (anything to challenge the valididity of the judgment).
4) Constitutional issues: The debtor can claim that due to any of the above reasons (if valid), he was denied his constitutional right to defend himself due to his 'non-appearance'. This can also void the judgment.

And, since Small Claims court (where most of these judgments originate) do not have court transcripts, it can be fairly easy for a debtor to make claims about the 'foreign' judgment and prevent it being 'domesticated' to his home state.

However, NONE of these claims can be made if the judgment was rendered after a 'finding of fact' by a court after hearing both sides evidence. That is why a default judgment is considered a 'weak judgment'.

Fascinating... Thanks for the perspective, Halket.

- Bill