Enforce Judgment from Small Claims in PA

What is the name of your state? Pennsylvania

My wife and I recently won a judgment against a contractor on 3/17/08 for about $950 as a result of him taking our deposit for concrete work to be performed and then never actually showing up to do the work. It has now been more than 2 months and he still has not returned our money to us! I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but we live in Allegheny County (Pittsburgh area) and so does the contractor/defendant.

I am wondering what our next step should be. I have read on this site some information about enforcing a judgment by levying funds from his bank account. We paid by check so I do know the Bank and Branch where his account is held. However, in speaking with a representative from the District Justice office, she said that we can't levy funds in Pennsylvania. I'm getting opposite information when I call the Sheriff's Office. So I'm very confused as to which is correct? Or maybe in some strange twist of the legal system, both are correct? Any ideas?

Also, if we are either unable to levy funds, or there are insufficient funds in his bank account, what do we need to do next to perhaps have some of his property confiscated & sold to pay for this judgment? Part of our problem is the judgment is only for $950 and we don't want to keep dumping money into a losing cause if we're unable to ever get anything back.

This is the first time we've had this type of problem and it is stunning to me first that someone could ignore the judgment, and second that there is no easily identifiable, readily available method to have the judgment enforced on our behalf! Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks!

This is the first time we've had this type of problem and it is stunning to me first that someone could ignore the judgment, and second that there is no easily identifiable, readily available method to have the judgment enforced on our behalf! Any help would be appreciated!

Welcome to the wonderful world of debt collection, where getting the judgment is literally only half the battle.

You can garnish a bank account in Pennsylvania, but that requires another legal proceeding to obtain the garnishment order. You can have the sheriff seize non-exempt assets (if there are any) and file a lien on real property (if there is any).

You may want to contact a local lawyer experienced in such matters; generally, the costs of collection are recoverable (but not the costs of a debt collection agency). The problem, as you note, is that the size of your judgment may not be much incentive ...

best way to proceed from here?

thanks for the reply... Does anyone have any insight on how I actually move forward with getting the sheriff to seize assets and file a lien on his property? I know that he owns a truck at least... not sure if that qualifies as non-exempt or not... not really even sure what that means...