Taking a Co. to Small Claims Court

[Digvid]

What is the name of your state? Florida

The reason for contacting you is, I had to take a business to small claims, I had given this screen Co. a $2500 dollar down payment and the owner never started the job, I had given the owner several chances to repay me but he just stopped taking my calls so I started the small claims process.
The first time there the owner of the Co. was a no show so I was given the judgment, I set up another court date and this time he was served by the local S/O. He showed this time because he would have been in contempt, he quickly stated that he had closed the screen Co. and he did not have to pay since the Co. no longer existed and he worked for another Co. as a regular employee, then the Judge asked me if I would like to pierce the Co. meaning to go after the owners and I said yes. So in front of the Judge he stated that he would start paying me $200 a month until he was paid up which at this time was around $3300 due to court costs. After 4 months of no payments I finally put in motion to garnish his wages, but now the Co. he works for is not cooperating with the Judgment and the court has sent 2 request for garnishment.
So now my question is
1. How can I find out if I can take personal belongings, such as Cars or other items to recoup some monies?
2. Can I go after his taxes and is there a form.
3. He was the president of the Co. and his wife was the vice Pres. can I go after his wife also since she is part of the Co. or would I have to take her to court separately.

Thanks for any advice. As I'm pretty much at a stand still.....

 

[dcatz]

First, let me acknowledge that this response is without benefit of reviewing your state statutes and without the benefit of some additional information that you would have to provide.

Q. How can I find out if I can take personal belongings, such as Cars or other items to recoup some monies?

A. Review your state’s exemptions. Start checking in an area similar to Rules of Civil Procedure > Judgments > Execution > Exemptions. If you don’t try online, a local law librarian could guide you.
As a general matter in FL:
Up to $1,000 in personal property is exempt from confiscation by a creditor, unless the judgment creditor has a lien or security interest in the property. The $1,000 can include wages and money held in a bank account. If a judgment debtor has more than $1,000 worth of personal property, he/she can choose which property to protect. If the judgment is against one spouse and not the other, the “non-incurring” spouse is entitled to protect his/ her interest in the property. Property that is held by a husband and wife as tenants by the entireties cannot be divided and thus is not subject to the claims of creditors of the husband or wife individually. The judgment debtor and/or the debtor's spouse must file an affidavit with the court and the sheriff to obtain the exemption and protect the property from the judgment creditor.

An interest in a vehicle is exempt up to $1,000 of its value. This means that vehicle cannot be taken to satisfy a judgment unless the value of the car, less all debts for which the vehicle is collateral, is greater than $1,000. To “seize and sell” a car, you must be sure that you will realize the value of your judgment + $1,000 exemption + any money owing on the car to get clear title + the costs of execution and sale. It’s commonly not worth the effort, but that’s for you to decide.

Q. Can I go after his taxes?

A. No.

Q. Can I go after his wife also since she is part of the Co. or would I have to take her to court separately?

A. The response may have been included in the first answer, but we don’t know who/what your judgment is against. From the post, it would appear that you asked for judgment against a corporation, the bench officer asked about “piercing the veil” and the president jumped in and offered to make payments. If that’s what happened, it’s hard to tell who/what you have judgment against. From the fact that you tried to garnish, I infer that the former president is the or one of the judgment debtors. If his wife wasn’t included at the time, that’s a shame, because the judge’s offer was uncommonly proactive and plaintiff-friendly.

If the present employer is ignoring the garnishment, there would be a couple of options available in my state. I don’t know if they’re available in yours. There is also the unknown issue of whether your judgment debtor is being paid wages or is strictly commission. (Occasionally, an employer will argue that there are no wages to garnish and no commission has been earned – except “under the table”).

1) An Assignment Order directs debtors of a debtor (the employer of the ex president) to pay commissions to a creditor (you).

2) Many states permit a Creditor’s Suit in Equity. You should check with local counsel on this. The underlying theory works as follows:
A wage garnishment is a court Order. Disregard of a garnishment is contempt of Court. Disregard of a garnishment creates a new and separate cause of action whereby the creditor (you) can sue the garnishee (the employer) for all monies that should have been paid to comply with the Order and all monies due or to become due in the future. Moreover, there is really no defense, if the garnishment was ignored.
I have had a number of companies, who thought they were doing a good deed by protecting an employee, become very surprised to find that they were judgment debtors too.
Until you know that you can do that in your state, there is no point in discussing enforcement against the employer.
Good Luck.

 

[Digvid]

So an update on my case, I went back to the Small claims division and talked to the Judges secretary and ask if they had heard from the Company that I had sent the garnishment papers to and she told me that they had not and that the judge had found them in contempt of court and filed that they are now responsible for all monies owed, so even if the guy quit tomorrow, the Company would still have to pay me. She then told me that I would have to file another garnishment against the Company now and I would have to find out what bank they use or go against there payroll dept. which will be another $185 bucks to file and also get added to the total amount. She did tell me to go down and talk with them and see if I could work something out with them, So I did and they acted totally dumb about the whole thing like they never got the paper work, but then I showed them the signed paper from the sheriff office mailed to me with the secretary's signature on it. Then they finally called the payroll Dept ( which is outsourced to another Co. ) and they said I will be getting a check from them in a couple weeks and every couple weeks after that from they guys checks that owes me the money. so a couple questions on this:
1- Should I now just go after the Companies money and forget about the guy.
2- how can I find out the Co. bank info without taking them into court and making them fill out a fact information sheet and costing more money and time even thought the charges would be added onto there final payment
I just think that the whole time that this garnishment had been going on, the Co. was just trying to stall for the guy hoping I would just give up, I think that there all good friends and they were doing this to stall on purpose.....

Thanks for reading.....

 

[dcatz]

From your post, it would appear that the court gave you the rights that would be conferred by a creditor’s suit in equity (mentioned above) and did so sua sponte (on its own motion). For that, you should be grateful. A creditor’s suit is normally a separate action with a separate filing cost.

Should I now just go after the Companies money and forget about the guy?

You now have a right against both. See what the company pays voluntarily and decide whether it’s worth the time and money to immediately pursue him as well. You can do both; it’s your decision whether it’s cost-effective. Just keep track of him, in case you want to wait now and start later. If you have problems doing that, the company has to have an address to forward his W-2 or 1099 (depending on his relation).

How can I find out the Co. bank info without taking them into court and making them fill out a fact information sheet and costing more money and time?

There are ways, but all investigation costs some time and usually some money. You can post back if it remains a concern but, at the moment, you’re scheduled to get a check from them, aren’t you? All you need is one to identify the bank. What are we missing that prompts the question?