Legal Question in Business Law in California

You should at least have the matter reviewed initially by an attorney. One of the questions that I would ask first if you called me was when was the judgment entered, and has it been renewed. Your judgment appears to be a small claims judgment. Like other civil judgments, they are only valid for 10 years, and have to timely renewed in order to allow you to enforce them.

If you retained the agent in 2006, the judgment probably still has a few years to go before it needs to be renewed, but do keep an eye on that date.

An important question is the degree of exclusivity you gave the first agent, and whether it has expired. What does your agreement say? Sometimes creditors sell the receivable outright, in which case they are paid off and have no further right to sums collected; that's probably not the case here, but watch out for an unexpired exclusive right to collect.

Next, ask the proposed new collection agent whether he sees any problems than might result from the previous arrangement.

Finally, consider whether the debtor can be found, and if so, whether it can pay. If it is a totally defunct business, for example, the judgment may simply be incollectible.