My friend moved out of her apartment but never received her deposit back. Here in California the landlord has 21 days to send the ex tenant a billing statement and recipts to justify withholding of a deposit. The landlord failed to do this in a timely manner so my friend sued them and won. Several months have passed and the landlord still has not paid my friend so she tried to post a levy on their bank account but that attempt failed because the bank account number that was provided to her by her bank (via endorced cancelled check) was not vallid. NOw she is bringing the landlord back to court for a "creditors examination" to get the info she needs to do the levy. NOw all of a sudden they are sending her letters telling her to come pick up a check but they now owe interest to the sherriffs office ( for personal service fee waver court clerk ect) and the check they are offering does not cover it. In addition they are still trying to charge her $500 ( the balance on the bill they did not send with in 21 days after deducting the $600 deposit). In court the landlord did not counter or appeal. Since they did not justify any of the charges in court or prove that they even sent her a copy I don't understand why they would still be trying to charge her. What are you options? Are there any California codes that may help? Can she sue for harassment or perhaps trying to make a claim against a judgement?

They owe the amount of the Judgment - no more and more less - plus fees and costs if those were awarded.

They can send her letters and threaten her until the cows come home but it's all meaningless.

My suggestion - gather up all of the evidence and take it to the examination of assets (creditors exam). Maybe the Court will be interested in pursuing this.

Claims of harassment are difficult to prove but, sure, she can try.

Yes, they owe the amount that the court awarded, they do not have to settle for a penny less ( unless they want to)

But also, most personal judgements never get paid, so if you can get 70 or more percent of the money paid, I may consider jumping on it if it appears it will be hard to be paid.

Winning is one thing, and often easy, collecting your money is a totally different thing