Collecting after winning a small claims case

[crystalp]

What is the name of your state? Georgia, but case filed in Virgina

I sued a corporation in Virginia. I won the case. I mailed and faxed the signed judgment to both the corporation's legal department (which I learned was in Texas) and its registered agent in an attempt to amicably collect payment.

I have received no response. So I am now worried about my next course of action. How do I go about collecting the judgment? I would prefer to do it on my own since this was the whole purpose of me filing in small claims. Or would it be more appropriate to use an attorney as the judgment is against a corporation?

Thanks,

Crystal P.

 

[Betty]

What is the name of your state? Georgia, but case filed in Virgina

I sued a corporation in Virginia. I won the case. I mailed and faxed the signed judgment to both the corporation's legal department (which I learned was in Texas) and its registered agent in an attempt to amicably collect payment.

I have received no response. So I am now worried about my next course of action. How do I go about collecting the judgment? I would prefer to do it on my own since this was the whole purpose of me filing in small claims. Or would it be more appropriate to use an attorney as the judgment is against a corporation?

Thanks,

Crystal P.

Once you won a judgment - now the fun begins in trying to collect it. When a corp. is involved, it is best to have the help of a lawyer particularly if the amt. is large. However, in your case filing in small claims court the amt. would not be excessively large. You'll have to decide if you believe it is worth hiring a lawyer. You can ask to have the director bring co. books re assets into court to examine, you can ask court to allow sheriff to cease assets but all this is hard to do on your own. It can become quit complicated. You want to be sure you don't botch the paper work & formalities. You can also see about having a lien put on busi. property.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

What is the name of your state? Georgia, but case filed in Virgina

I sued a corporation in Virginia. I won the case. I mailed and faxed the signed judgment to both the corporation's legal department (which I learned was in Texas) and its registered agent in an attempt to amicably collect payment.

I have received no response. So I am now worried about my next course of action. How do I go about collecting the judgment? I would prefer to do it on my own since this was the whole purpose of me filing in small claims. Or would it be more appropriate to use an attorney as the judgment is against a corporation?

Thanks,

Crystal P.

Let's try this again.

FIRST, you need to domesticate your judgement in TEXAS where the corporation is located or in Florida where there are substantial assets of the corporation. Since we have no facts on which to base a decision on this aspect of your case, suffice it to say you're headed back to court.

Once the judgement is domesticated, you can begin the process of Depositions in aid of execution whereby officers of the corporation will be called before the court to testify concerning their available assets.

Once this discovery phase is complete, and your foreign judgement is entered in the state of jurisdiction, then you can move to get a judgement lien (another process). THEN you get to secure your lien against property of the debtor and ......

Well, I guess you get the picture. have a sitdown with a local attorney to see in which jurisdiction you'll need to file the foreign judgement and proceed from there.

 

[crystalp]

Thanks for the advice. I guess finding an attorney now gets added to my things to do in the new year.