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Collecting small judgment

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os478

Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? MI

I've got a default judgment against a former landlord (Property management company) for a wrongfully withheld security deposit. The judgment was made on 10/9/14. The amount of money is fairly small (< $200).

In the paperwork from the court: Collecting Money from a Small Claims Judgment, it states that if the defendant is not present at the trial, the court will send a copy of the small claims judgment. The judgment will order the defendant to pay in full within 21 days or tell you and the court where s/he works and the location of his/her bank accounts. Do you know if I will receive any notice of this, or should I go back to the court to file for discovery? Is the cost of filing for discovery and execution of the judgment also recoverable? Here is a link to the paperwork mentioned: http://courts.mi.gov/Administration/SCAO/Forms/courtforms/smallclaims/dci84.pdf

If I named the company incorrectly, what are the ramifications of that? I had them named as <A> <B>, LLC, where they are named as <Other company> doing business as <A> <B> Apartments, LLC.

Thank you.
 


Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
It sounds to me like you didn't name the other party correctly, and I bet you didn't properly serve them. For less than $200, I suspect that (from an economic standpoint), your best course of action is to let it go...
 

os478

Member
It sounds to me like you didn't name the other party correctly, and I bet you didn't properly serve them. For less than $200, I suspect that (from an economic standpoint), your best course of action is to let it go...
What would determine proper service? The service was done by someone appointed from the court. The address to deliver to is the same. I believe the only issue would be the name difference.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
What would determine proper service? The service was done by someone appointed from the court. The address to deliver to is the same. I believe the only issue would be the name difference.
If you didn't name the other party properly, then service would also have been defective.
 

os478

Member
If you didn't name the other party properly, then service would also have been defective.
OK. I was trying to read into something for the first part that wasn't there as in something else may have been wrong. Shouldn't the served part have shown up to state they weren't the correct party?

Am I able to start a new suit against the correctly named party? I know I have almost nothing to gain financially doing it, but to me, it's not really about the money, it's about the principle.
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Personally, I feel it is unwise to throw good money after bad. It's business.
 

os478

Member
Are you saying that I am able to pursue it, but shouldn't?

What should I do about the other judgement?
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
Are you saying that I am able to pursue it, but shouldn't?

What should I do about the other judgement?
You are owed less than $200. Is your time, energy, and stress really worth so little?
 

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