We won a judgment against a Paint & Body company and now have a bigger issue the just the damage to my truck... We have found out that the owner is a huge deadbeat on paying, we have already filed an abstract of judgment and it has done no good, my next option is a Writ of Execution and then either a Writ of Garnishment or a Turnover Order.

We cannot figure out how to find where they bank and the Constable and Sheriff have been just a bunch of help (not) even when the book they give you tells you to contact them after you win the case for options (Hell they had to look it up on Google...

Please help as I need to get my truck fixed.

Also we won the case in Tarrant County Precinct 4 court.

Thanks for any advice.

Festus

You say it is a company, but is it incorporated? If so, you must pursue corporate assets, unless you can prove the corporate entity is bogus. I think your best bet is to hire a private investigator to follow them to see whether they use a bank or go for money orders. If you know the bank, then garnishment may work. Also, if there is a corporation, the sheriff can seize corporate assets pursuant to the writ of execution. You may be able to find an inventory of assets with the tax assessor's office if you have ad valorem taxes on personal property in Texas. Also, check the deed records for real estate owned by the corporation. If there is no corporation, check out the same things for in individual(s) involved in the business.

First no, it is not the court or the sheriffs job to find your money, so don't be mad at them, and this is a issue way over 1/2 of all judgements are never collected on,
finding the money is your problem, often you have to hire private search or PI firms to find these for you.

As noted, this is the Catch 22 of suing someone. Winning the suit is usually the easy part. But the court doesn't guarantee payment. One thing you can also try is getting the court to issue a subpeona for their tax records and bank records.

First no, it is not the court or the sheriffs job to find your money, so don't be mad at them, and this is a issue way over 1/2 of all judgements are never collected on,
finding the money is your problem, often you have to hire private search or PI firms to find these for you.


OK first off I didn't expect the Sheriff or Constable to handle my case, The booklet that the Court gives you says to go to the Sheriff or Constable after you win your case to obtain information on the next steps you should take, and when we did ask the Sheriff and Constable both had to look up the information on the web and only gave us the same information as the books stated. So I am not mad at them but they should know what the steps are if the State issued book is going to send people to them for directions. You must remember that for the majority of us this is the first time we have ever had to sue someone and we are totally in the dark on everything and the leteriture all reads like Chinese stereo instructions.

Does the paint and body company have an office, with a cash register?

If so, have the sheriff levy the cash register, at the office.

What about a judgment debtors exam?

You can request this through the court in many jurisdictions.

Just some other possible options you can look into.

You say it is a company, but is it incorporated? If so, you must pursue corporate assets, unless you can prove the corporate entity is bogus. I think your best bet is to hire a private investigator to follow them to see whether they use a bank or go for money orders. If you know the bank, then garnishment may work. Also, if there is a corporation, the sheriff can seize corporate assets pursuant to the writ of execution. You may be able to find an inventory of assets with the tax assessor's office if you have ad valorem taxes on personal property in Texas. Also, check the deed records for real estate owned by the corporation. If there is no corporation, check out the same things for in individual(s) involved in the business.

George, Thank you for your reply, The company is not a LLC or Incorporated, and we found out what bank they use and with the help of a very nice young lady at the bank found out that they have both their personal and company accounts there. (I will note that she didn't give us any personal info, just that they did bank there), so We are on to another path, and I found out today that the fee that I paid for the Abstract of Judgment is only for the Precint and not the County which will cost me another $20, and that if it is not filed with the county then it will not show when creditors look at their credit.

I do wish I had know this prior to the case as I would have added in all these fee's.

Again Thank You for any advice as this is the first (and hopefully the only) time to sue someone.

Festus

Don't know if this will help, but it may be worth a look: https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/bankruptcy-debt/garnishment-texas-32060.html