Small Claims Help

[J. T. Toad]

Is there anyone how might be willing to give me some (free)advice on collecting a small claims judgment?

(ie, abstract of judgment and the recording of such?)

[Turk]

Winning in Small Claims Court is rather easy.Often if you bring action against someone because you KNOW you have it coming. Often they don't even show up to contest.

Collecting is another thing. I have 3 judgements that went unpaid!

Good luck.

TURK

[foothills gary]

Often the person who has stuck you has also stuck many other people as well(it's a lifestyle).When I was in business I belonged to a credit agency who used to collect for me,for a 50% tariff.They used to bundle all the bad accounts and get a judgement,and they did collect!I had accounts that moved clear across the country to try and escape their debts,but sooner or later they would apply for credit and get smacked.It was worth the fee for me just knowing that the agency was out prowling for the bums and would deny them of their passion du jour.You may want to contact an agency,and see what they can do for you.As an alternative,one of my Italian cousins may do you a favor(just kidding of course!).

[PatBuckley]

I was just at a small claims hearing on Wednesday - in the preliminary talk they tell you to try and work it out yourself as getting your money if you win is not easy in a lot of cases.

Kind of left me wondering what the point was.

Pat

BTW - the guy who sued my company was a DNS so the cases was dsmissed without prejudice.

[Ron61]

In my case when I went to small claims court it was to get my money back from a roofing contractor who had used crummy shingles and they fell all to pieces in about 3 months. Actually worked quite well for me as that company had so many claims for doing that, they were more than willing to refund the money. Otherwise with the amount of claims, several of us had enough to take them to court on fraud. Then we found out they had cases against them from Sacramento to Redding and they would lose their license if any went to court for fraud. Supposed to have been 20 year shingles and if you dropped one it would shatter. They got the shingles from Mexico and they didn't even meet the codes here but they sold them as top of the line fire-retardant shingles.

Ron

[J. T. Toad]

btw, for a side comment to follow Pat Buckley's statement...


If you DO go to small claims.. DO NOT stand before a Temporary Judge.... ( not to insult all of them, I am sure they mean well but, the one which HEARD my initial case, did NOT follow the LAW, and I am NOT an expert, but had a better understanding of certain issues than HE did)

Request a duly appointed or elected Judge

[foothills gary]

Ron,if they were installed by illegals,you would have been "fortunate" to have gotten the whole package!Just be glad that no one fell off the roof,because you can bet that they were either unisured or underinsured if the company is that unethical.

[foothills gary]

JT,a "tempory judge"?Isn't that an oxymoron?Does that mean that the judgement is also temporary?We are really in trouble now!

[J. T. Toad]

LOL,

No, supposedly their 'judgments' are legally binding, but what kind of ruling might one expect, if they themselves do not follow the letter of the law?

but then again maybe they are teporary, I eventually ended up having a simple case in front of a duly elected or appointed judge who had NO problem understanding the situation, and afterword, snickered at the whole stupid thing.

[Tom T.]

Mr. Toad,

It is difficult for an amphibian to collect on a judgment. Actually, it's amazing you got this far without being squashed in the courtroom. Rbbbbbbbt. Okay, more seriously, the small claims court should be able to supply you with forms to collect. You can get the local sheriff to serve an "examination of assets" notice on the defendant--this can be fun becuase under penalty of contempt, the defendant has to show up and spill the beans before a judge about what he really has. This worked for me on a pro bono case I took where a poor old lady had hired roofers who totally screwed the job up. She'd won in small claims court but they wouldn't pay. I made them go down to the bank, apologize to her, and hand her a cashier's check for the complete judgment. Hope it works out.

TT

[Ron61]

Gary,

Boy, are you ever correct about that. I was fortunate enough that I knew a local contractor and he is the one that helped me and he had already heard of this outfit and was gathering data on them. After my day in court, I have never seen or heard of them around here again. About 6 months later I did get a call from the state Fraud investigator in Oregon about them and he said he had gotten my name and records from the state attorney generals office and just wanted a little background on how they had did me. So I asked him if I could call back the next day as I wanted to be sure if he was really who he said he was, then I contacted our attorney generals office in Sac. and they told me yes, they had given him my name, so I gave him the contractors name that had dug up all the info. With the contractors permission of course. I guess they had moved their operation to Oregon at that time.

Ron

[foothills gary]

Ron,I applaud your getting involved in putting this shyster out of business,but also admire your savvy in smelling a possible rat when phoned from Oregon.It is not unlike many of these squirrels to phone representing someone else,only to sue you for defamation if anything is said that could even remotely be construed as derogatory.Sort of the multiscam approach to wealth accumulation.I had an employee in my business a few years back who supposedly developed an allergy to latex gloves,and wanted to go on disability.My insurance company called,and wanted me to take a day away from work to attend the hearing.Reluctantly I went,knowing as a sole proprietor it would be expensive to close for the day.My insurance company sent a pair of absolutely stunning Ice Queens to question this gal,and I mean the temperature of the room dropped 30 degrees when they entered.They scared me,and they were on my side!They smelled blood,and I can't describe the carnage!It turned out that this gal had been working with four different names and ssn's to cover her tracks.She had other claims,but even in this State was unlucky enough to hit the same insurance company twice.The judge at the hearing was loving it,and could hardy suppress the smirk on his face.They told her that not only would she never be able to make another claim in California,if she tried she would be prosecuted for fraud with intent.They also guaranteened she would be liable to pay back every dime she had ever been granted from the insurance companies,and would be forced to pay back the State for all they had payed out in "retraining" and welfare benefits.Hopefully none here will ever have to be involved in this nonsense,but getting involved did make a difference in this case.

[Ron61]

Gary,

Thanks for the compliments and it sounds as if you have had more than your share of rip off types too. I just really try to check out any people or company that I am going to have do any work for me now as I had rather never go through that again. Sooner or later those type get what is coming to them

Ron

[Roscoe]

Is the judgment against an individual, a corp, a sole proprietership or what?
What is the amount?
What state are you in?
Does it include interest?

Advise,
Roscoe

[J. T. Toad]

Thanks Roscoe,

I got it taken care of, it had to deal with getting the initial court where the judgement was issued to certify the abstract, (I may not described this legally lingustically correct)

BTW, for those of us CONSUMERS..... maybe I shouldn't post it for sellers information... but if they avoid it anyway probably good reason to go someplace else, for small claims cases and venue, be aware of civil code 1812.10 in CA

thanks again

[Don]

While I cannot attest to the accuracy of the statement, but was once told to always use the US Postal system , registered/certified mail, with Return Receipt when forwarding documents to the parties of the claim.

Appears that by using the US Post Office, Federal law, which is stronger in these cases than state law, takes precedent in support of any further action to satisfy the initial judgement, i.e. use of the US Mail to defraud.

Correct or ?

[J. T. Toad]

maybe, but my recent experience with registered mail is that the receipiant just refuses it.