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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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