In September of 2007 of was awarded a decision by the Los Angeles Superior Court. The defendant had failed to appear twice and had also failed to file a Notice of Appeal. I was informed by letter to come to an office in order to arrange collection details. When I arrived I was given the choice of allowing the court to collect the full amount owed or hiring some one to collect the money. At the time I had just gotten out of high school and was willing to wait in order to receive the full amount instead of paying someone. I signed a paper and they sent me on my way.

Obviously, I have not received the money. I'm now trying to transfer out of my local community college and into a four year university and have never found myself in more need of the money. I've tried calling the office for any updates but was told that my case had been closed and they had no information regarding the collection. My question is if there is anything I can do to speed this up slightly. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

You let it lag and should not have. You should have kept on top of the proceedings and asked for up dates. You showed no interest, so they just did what they could and that wasn't enough. Its your money and you won a judgement, now call them again and insist.

Tick

When you say you were awarded a decision, I trust you mean you received a Judgment - ?

The Judgment still stands. The fact that the collection file was closed doesn't mean you can't personally collect on the Judgment. Nothing has expired.

You need to locate the person and begin collection efforts on your own.

I personally would never allow the Court to collect because "usually" Courts put little time and effort into the matter. What happened to you is not uncommon.

The defendant was my former employer. I was terminated and he withheld my last paycheck. I know where his business is and his house. Am I allowed to pursue my own means of collecting the money even though I already allowed the court to do so? If so, what would be the best course of action?

The defendant was my former employer. I was terminated and he withheld my last paycheck. I know where his business is and his house. Am I allowed to pursue my own means of collecting the money even though I already allowed the court to do so? If so, what would be the best course of action?


Do you have a Judgment against him?

I have seen "strange" hearings after which an order was issued and then that had to be turned into a Judgment.

I have kept all documentation and the last document I received says the following:

"With regard to the above-referenced matter, it has been determined that the defendant, (my former employer), failed to file a Notice of Appeal with the Los Angeles Superior Court in (his city) or (my city), therefore, we are returning your case to our district office with instructions to enter judgement and pursue collection efforts on your behalf. No further action will be taken by the legal section and all future inquiries should be directed to our district office."

This was received in September of 2007. After I received that I went to the district office and that was when I was given the choice of either allowing the court to obtain the money or find my own means of doing so. As stated previously I signed a paper that said I would allow the court to collect the money. They did not give me a copy of this document that I signed although in retrospect I should have insisted that I get one.

Now my question is whether I can go and get the money myself seeing as the court isn't following through with it. I appreciate the time you're taking to help me out.

The Court was instructed to enter a Judgment. Get a copy of the Judgment and serve it on the debtor if the Court hasn't already served him.

Then, yes, you can collect it without the assistance of the Court.

I spoke with a different person today at the office who was a little more helpful but not by much. She told me that he has in fact been served through their collection agency but that was it. She couldn't tell me more.

I will have to go into the office and write a request for the judgement and give it to the deputy and they will reassign the case back to me. After that, what would be the best course of action?

If you don't know if the debtor has been served with the Judgment, then you must have him served. I don't have time right now to look up California Law but if no one comes along who knows 100% I'll look it up tomorrow - I do not know if he has to be personally served with the Judgment or if you can serve him by certified mail.

You already know where he works so after the required number of days you serve his employer - which is him - with a garnishment of wages notice.

Without knowing what attempts the Court made it's a little hard to say whether he'll just pay based on receiving the Judgment. Also, I am not in California.

I wanted you to get a quick - if somewhat incomplete - response while waiting for others to come along.

I was told that he had been served by the court's collection agency. I think that's the extent of what they have done. So he has been served.

Would it be wise to have the deputy reassign the case to me and serve him myself?

So I went to the court on Monday and asked for a copy of the judgement in writing. I also asked for any information regarding the collection agency they were using. They could neither provide me with a phone number or even the name of the company. Their only advice was to wait. I'm thinking of asking them to reassign the case to me. If I do this, will I have to serve the debtor again or can I go about collecting myself after it has been reassigned?

If the Judgment has been served - and in some areas that can be accomplished by mail - you are good to go. But you have to have proof that it was served.