QUESTION
Can the cost of using an attorney to collect a default judgment awarded by small claims court be included and recovered when the debt is settled?
Asked on Jan 21st, 2016 on Business Law - Washington
More details to this question:
My husband is a contractor. He won a default judgment against a hotel owner in Vancouver, WA in small claims court, in the amount of about $2000. County clerk advised we might need an attorney to execute a writ of garnishment and/or real estate lien. The owner has businesses in both Washington and Oregon, but he lives in Oregon. We live in Oregon also.
1 ANSWER
With very few exceptions, each side pays its own attorneys' fees. You can recover your attorneys' fees only if you have a contract, or an applicable statute, which so provides. I'm not a Washington attorney, but I doubt that there is any statute which would provide for you to recover attorneys' fees in this situation, so the questions are (a) whether you have a contract with the hotel owner which provides that you can recover the attorneys' fees you incur in the course of a dispute; and, if so (b) why did you not seek to recover such fees when you sued in small claims court?
Answered on Jan 22nd, 2016 at 11:16 AM