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Registered agent resigned. Heading for default judegement.

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J

jys

Guest
What is the name of your state? Georgia

I have sued a company in January this year in Small Claims. This company is basically a one man show. The registered agent was the owner of the company (registered as Domestic profit with the Secretary of State) when the case was filed. The agent avoided service many times and the court clerk advised to take the help of Secretary of State. After following the relevant procedure, Sec of State accepted service on behalf of the company on Apr 8th.

Meanwhile the owner has registered another person as Registered agent without his knowledge ( don't know how exactly this happened) on Apr 1st. Now this person found out about it and complained to Secretary of state and took his name out of their records. Now there is no Registered Agent or any other officers at the Sec of State records. It just says that the agent has resigned.

On request for default judgement, the court has now arranged a hearing in about 10 days from now. It will be good if the owner shows up at the court. My questions are:

1.If the owner does not show up and there is a Judgement against the company, will the owner be liable to pay in this case?

2.If not, to whom should we be correspond about the default judegement?

3.Since there is no current agent, will the case be dismissed?

Thanks!
 


JETX

Senior Member
"If the owner does not show up and there is a Judgement against the company, will the owner be liable to pay in this case?"
*** First, you need to understand, there is no OWNER of a corporation. It is owned by shareholders. So, if you get a judgment against the corporation, you can go after any assets of the corporation, but not an individual..... unless that person is also named in your lawsuit.

"If not, to whom should we be correspond about the default judegement?"
*** I would suggest that you amend your suit (if possible) to name the individual. Let him try to convince the court that he was acting under the protection of the 'corporation'. I also suggest you review your Georgia corporation statutes. I believe that a corporation MUST have a designated agent for service, or forfeit their corporate charter.

"Since there is no current agent, will the case be dismissed?"
*** That would be up to the court to decide, but it is possible depending on specifics. That is another reason why I suggest your adding the individual name to the lawsuit.
 
J

jys

Guest
Thanks for the response

Jetx,
Thank you very much for responding. I'll try to make the amendment if possible.
 
J

jys

Guest
Owner / agent of the corp added as Defendant by Judge!

The owner showed up at the hearing for Default judgement. He said that he has dissolved the company a week ago. Judge listened to the case and ruled in my favor. In the beginning of the hearing I requested to add his name (the owner's name) as defendant (I could not do this before appearing in the court). Though intially the Judge refused, after listening to the case details, at the last minute the Judge included the owner's name along with the Corp name in the Judgement.

Although he may appeal and collecting the money may be more difficult, I am glad that his name was added to the judgement.

Thanks Jetx for your suggestion!
 

JETX

Senior Member
Sounds like you did well. Congratulations!
And damn, that was a mighty smart idea to include him personally. The person who came up with that must be a genius!!:D :D
 
H

hexeliebe

Guest
I concur with JetX on that guy who suggested adding the individual...

<pssst, now where's my royalty :D>
 
J

jys

Guest
Petition filed by defendant to get a Writ Of Certiorari

The defendant has now filed a petition at State court to get a Writ of Certiorari on Magistrate court. He is trying to get a new trial. It seems he cannot appeal the default judgment. He is basically trying to get his name out of the judgment leaving just the corp’s name in it. His grounds for the petition are

1. The lawsuit was against the corp
2. He is an officer of the corp and his name was not added to the lawsuit.
3. He was never served
4. Holding him in Default is injustice since he was never served.

The new twist is that the defendant has filed some correction at the Secretary of State and has activated the Company again after this trial in Small Claims. But it is a fact that this company was dissolved before the trial date as per the information obtained on the date of the trial from Secretary of State website. My questions:

1.The court does not have any documentation that he dissolved before the trial and re-activated it after the trial. The fact that the company now exists, could it help him in removing his name from the lawsuit? Should I point it out when I am asked to file an answer?
2.Will his actions after the trial matter in granting a Writ of Certiorari since this writ looks at what happened before and during this trial?
3.Is it better to mention in my answer that he is doing this to hide behind the corp's name?

Jetx and others, please give your opinion.

Thanks a lot !
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
JETX said:
Sounds like you did well. Congratulations!
And damn, that was a mighty smart idea to include him personally. The person who came up with that must be a genius!!:D :D
**A: I missed this good one.
 

JETX

Senior Member
A 'Writ for Certiorari' is a writ (order) of a higher court to a lower court to send all the documents in a case to it so the higher court can review the lower court's decision. Clearly, at this point, you are beyond the experience level of a normal layperson and should consider obtaining the assistance of a local attorney.

Your questions:
"1.The court does not have any documentation that he dissolved before the trial and re-activated it after the trial."
*** Did you present any documents to the court as to the questionable status of the coruporation?? If so, those documents should be part of the courts file. What he did after the trial is not relevant.

"The fact that the company now exists, could it help him in removing his name from the lawsuit?"
*** Of course it could. But the question is will it?? And no one can answer that with any specificity.

"Should I point it out when I am asked to file an answer?"
*** Normally, you will only have to file an answer if the higher court decides to accept or hear the case.

"Will his actions after the trial matter in granting a Writ of Certiorari since this writ looks at what happened before and during this trial?"
*** Normally, his post-trial attempts to remedy his problems wouldn't have an affect.

"Is it better to mention in my answer that he is doing this to hide behind the corp's name?"
*** If you do have to answer, it wouldn't hurt to provide support for your issues.

As noted before, this has reached a level where you might consider obtaining local counsel.
 
J

jys

Guest
Thanks a lot Jetx for your response!

I'll start looking for an attorney.
 

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