Page 172 - Judgment Enforce Course

Judgment Enforcement – The Step-by-Step Course

Point: If the JD can convince the court that he had zero knowledge of the lawsuit, then

the problem is (almost always) fatal. That’s because, if there was no service, then the
court lacked jurisdiction to render the judgment in the first place.

Example: I had a million-dollar judgment vacated just because the proof of service was
lost by the court. And yes, the JD said, “What? A million dollar judgment against me? I
had no idea!” Yeah, right.

Q. Okay, so how do it deal with a proof of service problem?

When in doubt, you re-serve the JD. Not with the lawsuit complaint, but with a copy of
the actual judgment. Have an RPS serve it by mail. And file the
proof of service at the court.
LACHES
Then, sit back. The clock is ticking. If the JD really
did not know about the judgment, he or she has a A person’s unreasonable
limited time to respond. For example, in CA, the max delay in making an
assertion or claim to the
time is 6 months or less. If the JD doesn’t respond, then court.
he’s sat on his rights. This is called “Laches.” If you sit on your
rights, then the court will not be sympathetic.

Example: I had a nice judgment against a person who was served the complaint by mail
in Colorado. I knew this would be an issue. So, I had him re-served. He sat on his rights for
6 months. And, when I began enforcing the judgment, he claimed he don’t know about the

judgment, and tried to vacate it. He lost. Why? Here’s why:

“When a notice in writing is personally served
within the state both upon the party against whom
the judgment . . . has been taken . . . the party has
to apply for relief under the provisions of the
section (or it) shall expire 90 days after service of
notice. . .”
Cal CCP 473.1

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