My company was awarded compensation in an small claims case in Colorado. The defendant has filed the interrogs with the court, but we have not received them. Is the defendant legally required to provide us with a copy?

Also, the court will not provide us with a copy unless I go down to the courthouse - which is kind of far away. Should I just go down there, or wait for our copies that are hopefully in the mail?

Also, what is the next step after so receive the interogs to collect?

Thanks!
:confused:

Hello admin:

I'm not sure why you filed interogatories. You needed a writ of excution and with that writ you seize their bank accounts and garnish their wages.

excon

Hi Excon,

We didn't file interrogs, the defendant did. We are just trying to move into the collection phase.

Are you saying that we need to next do is file a writ of excution? Where do I get that paperwork?

You were awarded a judgement for x amount. That puts you in the Catch 22 of judgements. Now you have to collect. To collect you need to find assets for the plaintiff and get a writ from the court to attach those assets.

Interogatories are generally requested by the plaintiff or court to determine what assets the defendant has to pay the judgement.

It sounds like you have filed for garnishment, or levy already?

The company that filed the interrogs, did so as an answer to the garnishment or levy?

I would want that copy, even if I had to drive and get it, just so I know what was answered.

If this is a business, with a cash register on site, you can levy for the sheriff to go and get your money from that cash register. The forms for this will be available at your court house and can be picked up with your copy of the interrogs.

Minus a cash register on site, you will have to obtain account numbers to levy the bank accounts. Has this defendant ever paid you by way of check? If so, you may be able to get account numbers from copies at you bank.

Without any source for this information, you may be able to file a Judgment Debtors Exam.
This will subpoena the defendant to court where they will be sworn in under oath and instructed to answer any questions you ask that pertain to collection of your judgment.
If they don't show up, or refuse to answer, or you can prove that they lied, they can be arrested for contempt of court.

Hope some of this helps?

We have not filed for garnishment or levy yet. We were just in court 11 days ago. Interrogs were filed 8 days after that.

I definitely need to go drive to pick up the interrogs as the court will not provide me with their copy, nor will the defendant send me a copy (although he did send a balance sheet for the LLC and copy of his personal bank account statement - I think just to confuse us or show us that he has personal money, but that we won't get it. He also stated all LLC expenses were capitalized and no revenue has been received. He gave us his lawyer's info and advised us that we should file a lien again the company or a UCC filing, but that they do not have the ability to pay - but upon sale of compay the lien would have to be paid).

I believe that the account numbers for the LLC will be in the interrogs. With that info, we will file for garnishment or levy? What is the criteria for filing a 'Judgement Debtors Exam?

Help! What do we do to get this guy to pay us?

You file a plaintiff's motioin for a Judgment Debtors Exam with the court.

You should receive copies to take to the County Sheriff or process server to have them
Served on the defendant or the court may forward them for you after the judge has signed the motion.

If you have account numbers in the interrogs, you may be in business, if there is sufficient
Funds in the account. For that, you file a Plaintiff's motion to levy.

Good luck to you!

Comments on this post
admin235 agrees: No idea if accurate, are you trying to deceive us?

No, I would not do that.

There are some jurisdictions that do not allow the Debtors Exam so you would have to verify that yours does.

The bottomline here, as I indicated is that you have to find assets of this LLC to seize. The fact that it is an LLC means this guy knows his stuff and is using the LLC to hide income. You may be able to get the court to help find his assets by a Debtor's exam or similar. The Interrogatories are a similar tool used to determine the defendant's assets.

But until you find some assets to use to pay the judgement you are stuck. That's why he's thumbing his nose at you telling you to file a lien. He's probably operating the business so he can get cash out without showing any company assets. And that leaves you in the cold.

Denver County Court does not have a Debtor's exam, but uses the interrogatories.

Also, we originally file the suit against the individual, but the judge added his LLC as a defendant while we were in court. The case summary screen print we received from the court shows the judgement as:

Individual owes $0, individual LLC owes $$$$ and LLC owes $$$$.

Now, when I call the courtroom to get clarification on what this means, they are not helpful at all and just tell me the judgement is against both the individual and the LLC, and the judgement debt reads individual owes $0, LLC $$$$.

What does this mean for my case and how does it effect in my collections?

Also, what if he removes all assets from the LLC? Or hides the assests in an entity under another name? Can we make him personally responsible?

We don't want to loose our opportunity to collect what is ours in the first place. Please help!

That indicates that he will NOT be personally responsible, only the LLC.

I agree with the previous posts, this guy is slick, and knows how to protect himself from others trying to enforce his responsibilities.

But, that is what LLC's are for, to protect individuals from being liable for Corp. Debts.

You may need a good attorney, or perhaps a very good Private Eye to have any chance of getting what is yours in this case.

Oh, and yes, I'm sure he is hiding money and assets from you, and anyone else trying to collect from him or his LLC's. You can bet on it.

Clerks WILL send you copies of anything in any public file IF you ask them how much it is per page over the phone and how many pages are involved AND that you are going to be sending them a check for that amount to cover the copying charge and postage. It all depends on just how badly you want the answers to the interrogatories that you don't just drive down and pay the copying fee in person. You can also look at the entire file that the Clerk's office has. Who knows, you just might find a very interesting document that Mr. Slick filed and you didn't get a copy of that could prove quite useful to you. I used to go to the courthouse and look through case files and I would find such interesting little gems that the defendant or plaintiff did not mail to the opposing side all the time.

Clerks WILL send you copies of anything in any public file IF you ask them how much it is per page over the phone and how many pages are involved AND that you are going to be sending them a check for that amount to cover the copying charge and postage. It all depends on just how badly you want the answers to the interrogatories that you don't just drive down and pay the copying fee in person. You can also look at the entire file that the Clerk's office has. Who knows, you just might find a very interesting document that Mr. Slick filed and you didn't get a copy of that could prove quite useful to you. I used to go to the courthouse and look through case files and I would find such interesting little gems that the defendant or plaintiff did not mail to the opposing side all the time.

That is as solid an answer as you will probably get!

I wanted to rate it, but, I haven't spread enough around yet to hit twink again.

Love that looking through the file tip, awesome advice!

More confusion...

Originally we tried to just seek judgment from the individual, but the judge allowed the company's name to be added as a defendant as well. What is also interesting in this case is that the company's name listed also listed as the defandent never paid us previously; it was a company (LLC) of another name. This was briefly brought up in the case as the reason for the case against solely the individual, but the judge seemed to ignore it in the judgement.

I am still not sure the case is against only the LLC.

Our case summary report that lists:
Individual's name owes $0, individual name company name owes $$$$ and company name owes $$$$. The letters LLC is not actually on the case summary report.

Doesn't that mean the individual is also liable?

Also, twinkiedooter - I am shocked that you say the court will send me the interrogs. They were very specific that they would not do this.

Also, do you think I should/can appeal the case based on the judges addition of the company name and the fact that previous payment was received by a company of another name?

I'm curious as to the amount of this judgment?

If the amount is substantial, why not get an Attorney to collect it?

I have a great deal of small claims experience, as the plaintiff that is, and while not impossible to do yourself, it will be a very time consuming ordeal. Not to mention, you don't even know where to start?

The one thing I would start working on would be getting copies (front and back) from your bank of EVERY check this guy ever sent you. Those account numbers may come in very handy at some point in time.

Best of luck to you!

Approximately $6000. He only paid us once and I should get a copy of that check, unfortunately it is from a company of another name (not listed anywhere in the case).

Attorneys are expensive, but a possible route to take.

Approximately $6000. He only paid us once and I should get a copy of that check, unfortunately it is from a company of another name (not listed anywhere in the case).

Attorneys are expensive, but a possible route to take.

Yes, they don't work for chump change do they.

The key here is this, you have already done much of the work by obtaining the judgment.

Collection Attorneys work on a contingency basis. If they don't collect, you don't pay.

So, even if you end up with 50%, that's 50% of $6,000 which in my book is much better than
100% of nothing.

I would consult with two or three in your area, find out first if any are even willing to take this case on, then, do a little research to find out which one has the best success record and hire them.

Don't be as focused on a lower fee as they may not be near as effective as the one who is charging you more to get this taken care of. Results are what really matters.

I hope you prevail.

What are the partuculars here, why are you owed the money?

The company or more the individual contracted my company to do work for him (implied contract on a time and material basis as we were still working on the particulars of the actual contract) and then decided that he did'nt want to pay us because believed it was a 'fixed bid quote'.

Hello again, admin:

You were awarded a judgment. It the defendant wanted to STOP you from collecting your judgment, he would have filed for a "stay". He didn't. Therefore, in my view, your judgment is valid and just waiting to be collected upon. Go get the WRIT of execution, and take it to the sheriff, or the court bailiff or the constable. There IS someone who is available to serve writs and collect judgments. You just need to find out who it is.

The fact that the judge ADDED a defendant makes your case stronger. Now you can collect against either one.

excon

OK, So initially you dealt with the person directly. But were partially paid by one LLC. Then the judge added a different LLC to the suit. Sounds to me like you can collect from either,

But what about the screen print judgement reading:
Individual's name $0 individuals name company name $$$ and company name $$$.

Then, when I call the court for clarification they tell me the judgement reads 2 defendants and the financials read:
Individual $0 company $$$

Have they changed something from what I received in court?

I am concerned that I will not be able to collect from either party as I know he will hide money in the LLC in order not to pay us and I am not sure we will be able to collect directly from the individual.

Hello again, admin:

If the guy wants to commit business suicide by closing his bank accounts, then he will. IF he does, then his business isn't worth any money in the first place, so you wouldn't have collected a dime anyway.

Look, if you sued an individual, the judge can't exchange HIM for a CORPORATION. He can ADD a corporation, but he can't remove your defendant.

Stop asking questions and go down the courthouse and get yourself paid.

excon