Won case but haven't been paid (California)

[Manx]

I won a case against a well known company (DeVry) but I have not been paid.

I requested the payment and was ignored. I filed a writ of execution with the sheriff against the bank DeVry has an account at and a month later the bank says they can't find the account.

What do I do now? How do I get paid?

Update: I received payment. Thank you! I did not know I could add costs or interests. I hope this thread helps others!

 

[CourtClerk]

Writs can only be executed every 6 months or when the old one has been returned.

You need to get a PI to see if they can figure out where they bank. Did you ever write them a check? Their bank information is on the back of it...

You can do an ORAP and ask the judge to question them regarding their assets and banking information... (see form SC-134) costs $40 and you can get that back. Put it on your memorandum of costs when you file your next writ of execution (skip tracing or PI fees also).

 

[dcatz]

I’m not sure what CourtClerk means but, so that it’s clear, a writ is good for 6 months and you can only add additional costs and accrued interest when you request (and pay for) a new one. But, if you had the right bank account, you can execute on that account as many times as possible within the 6 months (assuming that you’re willing to pay for each levy and the account stays open – my record for having an account stay open is 4 levies).

You can recall the old writ and get a new one at any time within the 6 months. You don’t have to wait for the writ to expire.

How much is the judgment worth – meaning how much are you willing to spend?

Why was your account information bad? You identified a bank and an account. The bank can’t find it. What happened? That’s for you to figure out.

You can check public records and see if DeVry owns property. File an Abstract of Judgment in the appropriate county. It “clouds” the title and a copy will be sent to the judgment debtor.

You can file a lien on personal property by recording a JL-1
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/collectlien.htm

If the judgment debtor is a plaintiff in another lawsuit, you can file a judicial lien on the litigation (see the same site)

If it’s worth your time and effort (and probably more expense than other methods), you can seek an Assignment Order.
http://law.justia.com/california/codes/ccp/708.510-708.560.html

An ORAP does cost $40, but add to that the cost of personal service (necessary and tricky) and another $50 for a contempt warrant, if you serve and nobody shows, and you must be confident that this is productive.

Your Memorandum of Costs Post-Judgment entitles you to costs authorized by statute.
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/mc012.pdf

I don’t know what statute(s) would allow you to claim skip tracing and P.I. charges or what court would allow them and I'd like to, as I've never had it happen. You could try. The worst that can happen is that they’re rejected, but think about that before incurring the expense.

 

[CourtClerk]

I’m not sure what CourtClerk means but, so that it’s clear, a writ is good for 6 months and you can only add additional costs and accrued interest when you request (and pay for) a new one. But, if you had the right bank account, you can execute on that account as many times as possible within the 6 months (assuming that you’re willing to pay for each levy and the account stays open – my record for having an account stay open is 4 levies).

You can recall the old writ and get a new one at any time within the 6 months. You don’t have to wait for the writ to expire.

How much is the judgment worth – meaning how much are you willing to spend?

Why was your account information bad? You identified a bank and an account. The bank can’t find it. What happened? That’s for you to figure out.

You can check public records and see if DeVry owns property. File an Abstract of Judgment in the appropriate county. It “clouds” the title and a copy will be sent to the judgment debtor.

You can file a lien on personal property by recording a JL-1
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/selfhelp/smallclaims/collectlien.htm

If the judgment debtor is a plaintiff in another lawsuit, you can file a judicial lien on the litigation (see the same site)

If it’s worth your time and effort (and probably more expense than other methods), you can seek an Assignment Order.
http://law.justia.com/california/codes/ccp/708.510-708.560.html

An ORAP does cost $40, but add to that the cost of personal service (necessary and tricky) and another $50 for a contempt warrant, if you serve and nobody shows, and you must be confident that this is productive.

Personal service on a business really ISN'T that difficult and if he has a friend do it, doesn't cost a dime.

Your Memorandum of Costs Post-Judgment entitles you to costs authorized by statute.
http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/forms/fillable/mc012.pdf

I don’t know what statute(s) would allow you to claim skip tracing and P.I. charges or what court would allow them and I'd like to, as I've never had it happen. You could try. The worst that can happen is that they’re rejected, but think about that before incurring the expense.

Los Angeles Superior Court, South District, Metropolitan District and North East District...

all of which I have worked at.

 

[dcatz]

What's the statutory authority please? I'm not challenging you - I'd really like to know, because I've never gotten that one by and it can be a major expense. I'd love to tack it on, but I don't argue with court clerks, and they have been kicked (long, long ago - I didn't have authority and still don't know what it would be).

 

[CourtClerk]

What's the statutory authority please? I'm not challenging you - I'd really like to know, because I've never gotten that one by and it can be a major expense. I'd love to tack it on, but I don't argue with court clerks, and they have been kicked (long, long ago - I didn't have authority and still don't know what it would be).

Seeing as if it's 9:30pm, I'm obviously not sitting at my desk where I can readily pull the CCP's (but if I can remember to, I'll get the authority tomorrow and email it to myself), however, I will tell you that we have been taking them from the major multi-filers for YEARS and not ONE has been kicked back...

For instance:
Rent A Centers
Cash Call
American General Finance

those 3 I can attest to personally add skip tracing fees to their MOC's and they've never been denied because at at least 2 of those courts I mentioned, I did nothing but process their claims for years before I went into the Family Law Courtroom.

 

[dcatz]

Good. I’ll start submitting them again, but post or PM the authority, if you will. The form requires the statutory support. We both know that courts change policies as quickly as supervisors. I don’t know how you support the quantification, whereas, for any statutory expense, you could. There was a time when, even if you had a contract that provided for recovery of “collection costs”, all the courts mentioned would only give you filing and service fees (which I believe is proper).

As far as an ORAP is concerned, let’s just say reasonable minds differ. I do commercial recovery, and I wouldn’t use an ORAP.
(1) I’d give even money that the OP wouldn’t know who to name.
(2) I’d give even money that whoever he named is going to say they know nothing about the account, if they do appear.
(3) If “2” happens, maybe they get ordered back with documents and maybe they don’t. It depends on the court.
(4) If nobody appears, the OP pays $50 for a civil contempt warrant that no Sheriff will serve, and you’ve worked in courts where you know that’s true. It’s a $50 postcard.
(5) If he uses a friend, I suspect the chances of good and timely service are slim. The server is not walking in and serving the guy behind the counter. The server is going to have to run some gauntlet.
(6) An ORAP is a viable method – sometimes. With a business, there are a multitude of better ones, in my opinion.

You were right about the check and the OP appears to have gotten that wrong. Why? If the court will give you your P.I. costs, get the right bank account and skip the ORAP.

If it’s worth enough, get an assignment order and take tuition.

 

[CourtClerk]

Good. I’ll start submitting them again, but post or PM the authority, if you will. The form requires the statutory support. We both know that courts change policies as quickly as supervisors. I don’t know how you support the quantification, whereas, for any statutory expense, you could. There was a time when, even if you had a contract that provided for recovery of “collection costs”, all the courts mentioned would only give you filing and service fees (which I believe is proper).

As far as an ORAP is concerned, let’s just say reasonable minds differ. I do commercial recovery, and I wouldn’t use an ORAP.
(1) I’d give even money that the OP wouldn’t know who to name.

Lucky for the OP, the Small Claims Advisor's have gotten really good at walking them through it since the court staff ourselves no longer will (or can). The forms for small claims have gotten so... "easy" that an idiot (ok, you have to be smarter than an idiot) could figure it out. I saw a 16 year old fill one out ALMOST perfectly.

(2) I’d give even money that whoever he named is going to say they know nothing about the account, if they do appear.

Without looking at the actual court file, it would be hard to guess. How did he get the judgment? Did someone appear? And actually, who cares anyway? If they want to discuss merits of service... THEY would have to file a motion. They're only going to ask about assets.

(3) If “2” happens, maybe they get ordered back with documents and maybe they don’t. It depends on the court.

I've not seen one yet where someone wasn't ordered back with documents when they wanted to play stupid. Actually, I was quite impressed on how they've gotten in small claims lately. When I first started out, they were very willy nilly.

(4) If nobody appears, the OP pays $50 for a civil contempt warrant that no Sheriff will serve, and you’ve worked in courts where you know that’s true. It’s a $50 postcard.

Suprisingly, the Sheriff will serve just about anything these days. Believe me, I've seen the stupidest subpeonas get served. I've seen subpeonas be served that can't POSSIBLY be enforced. Legally they can't. Everyone knows it, but they still serve them.
(5) If he uses a friend, I suspect the chances of good and timely service are slim. The server is not walking in and serving the guy behind the counter. The server is going to have to run some gauntlet.

What is it... 9 days before the hearing? And it's really not that difficult. Again, a call to the SCA and they can figure it out. Most of the courts nowadays are throwing the 20 day rule out because we can't get motions and hearings scheduled that quick. Where I am now, they are scheduling all small claims items in January without a negative outcome. Say the OP files tomorrow, he has until late December to get it right.

(6) An ORAP is a viable method – sometimes. With a business, there are a multitude of better ones, in my opinion.

You were right about the check and the OP appears to have gotten that wrong. Why? If the court will give you your P.I. costs, get the right bank account and skip the ORAP.

If it’s worth enough, get an assignment order and take tuition.

I would almost even say that if the OP has an active (or inactive) account with the school, he should write them a check for $10. They're bound to cash it without paying attention... then he's got the bank info. Most of those places use lock boxes anyway. They get deposit information after the deposits been made (btw... you wouldn't be able to recover the $10..lol) Get some dummy on the phone in payables and ask where they do their banking.. shoot ask the receptionist. Something benign, in a way they may not even expect.

 

[dcatz]

When you talked about frequent filers, I realized you were talking specifically about Small Claims, and the Enforcement of Judgments Act extends past that border.

I wish the best to the OP - I want to know how I get my cost memo by with P.I. and skip trace fees included.

As for the Sheriff, I know what they'll serve - anything for a fee (just as the court will accept anything with a fee attached). But a civil contempt warrant implies a body attachment ("hook 'em up") and that just doesn't happen. The Sheriff sends out a postcard saying, "please come in and purge yourself of contempt". Yeah, sure. So we're talking about two different things.

Again, I'm not challenging you on anything, but I would be interested in any authority and, with due respect, what they do or don't do in SC in any of the Superior Courts is not indicative of what's going to happen in a higher forum.

I don't feel that I can go into further detail. It doesn't aid the OP. Attorneys can preside but not appear in SC. I'd be happy to discuss this via PM - or not, as you wish.

 

[B.R. GOLDMAN]

As far as "what to do now", if you want to retain the matter and pursue it yourself, you have a couple of options. First, you may want to consider conducting a judgment debtor examination. That will require the use of a court order and service upon the debtor. As your debtor is an entity, the court may require the name of an individual to appear at the examination. You will have to do some digging to get a name, and that individual must be personally served. Additionally, conducting a judgment debtor examination is practically worthless without having served a subpoena duces tecum for records. I have an eight page, 100+ item list of documents that the judgment debtor must bring in for each examination.

Your second option is to use other means to find their specific bank account. If your judgment debtor is merely named, "DeVry" and not by its proper corporate name, the bank was well within their rights to decline the levy. (There are nine "DeVry" indices on the Secretary of State website.) So, if your judgment is against the wrong entity, and you served it on that wrong entity, you may have to start over, rather than amend it. I hope this helps.