The judge ruled in my favor for a civil case against a project manager who was paid to complete a restaurant buildout and abandoned the job and broke the contract agreement. The defendant was also ordered by the judge that he needed to submit to me documents of his assets, bank statements, tax returns, and any other forms of monies. He had 45 days to submit those forms and has failed to do so. I need to find out what my next step would be to submit to the court to retrieve my money.
This is one the primary reasons to retain lawyers in business litigation cases. Too many people think that they can handle the legal decision making only to find that what seems like the right decision at the time is later revealed to be the opposite. In many commerical litigation cases such as described here, the litigant failed to realize that all a judgment effectively is - is a court blessed IOU - with the added benefit of being able to TRY to collect the funds using legal process such as garnishment, levy and liens. I emphasize the word TRY as for most small businesses, if the judgment is significant, they will typically simply fold the business or file bankruptcy, or make exhaustive efforts to hide assets, leaving the judgment creditor is a less than optimal position. In some cases is as simple as the judgement debtor abandoning the existing business and then simply starting a different one that is not affected by the judgment. If you truly expect to enforce a judgment you REALLY need to consider retaining a collection law firm to handle that for you as they can help you maximize the ability to actually collect the debt. To your question, you would have to go through the contempt process with the court to have the court compel a response to the "Fact Information Sheet." This is a very technical process that can be very frustrating as many judges have no interest in becoming a collection agency for commerical judgment creditors that refuse to hire thier own lawyers.
All responses are NOT to be considered legal advice nor to be relied upon in any as such nor to establish any form of attorney/client relationship. Opinions expressed are solely informational and not a substitute for proper legal advice provided by a properly retained after thoroughly researching the issues presented.
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