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Judgment Enforcement – The Step-by-Step Course

• Judgments against corporations that are no longer in business: A corporation

is a separate “person” according to the law. When the corporation goes out of
business, and has nothing, then the judgment is pretty much worthless. There are
exceptions. But as a general rule, such judgments are not doable. (But there are
alternatives. We discuss those on the Forum.)
• Judgments against clever foreigners: As our world becomes smaller, we find
more and more people from China, Korea, Mexico and other countries, who come

here to start a business, but keep all their assets in their home country. If I’m offered
a judgment against such a person, I probably won’t take the judgment if there are no
assets in the U.S. I’m sorry that I can’t help the JC, but this is my business and my
livelihood. I must be efficient. I must earn a living.

• Judgments belonging to businesses with disorganized office
workers: This is another one that I learned the hard way. When I
started, I took assignment on 10 judgments from a dentist whose
office had changed office managers and other personnel 3 times in
the past year. The paperwork was so disorganized that they
unknowingly assigned me judgments that had already been satisfied. Lots of work
for me, and little payoff. Grrr. Watch out.

• Judgments for huge amounts of money: I have taken on a lot of
large judgments. One of the largest was about $900,000. And yes, I
collected, though not the whole amount. But I also turned down a
$6,000,000 judgment. Why? Because there were no assets.

In this case the debtor was an immigrant dish washer. He was the poor
fellow who owned the car that his son was driving when his son hit
someone and killed him. The “cause of action” was for “wrongful
death.”
But there were no assets. And though the father was legally liable, I didn’t want to

make his life more difficult than it was.
So be careful. Don’t become starry–eyed because of large judgments. Give me a
good $5,000 judgment any day.

• Judgments that my gut doesn’t like: I’ve learned to listen to
my gut. If something seems “hinky” and I can’t put my finger on
what’s wrong, that’s my internal warning to stay away from that
judgment. I can’t be more specific about this “feeling”. But I’ve
learned to trust it.

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