Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California
Can I post “reward for information on the location of this person”?
I loaned a (former) friend $9000 to get her car out of repo and to help with moving expenses. She said she would pay me back. However, after she moved she didn’t tell me her new address, changed her phone number and stopped responding to my emails. I was told you need the street address of someone in order to sue them. Is it legal to post “reward for information on the location of this person” on Myspace or in the newspaper? Or can you sue a person without knowing their street address? Would a PO Box or last know address be accepted?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Can I post “reward for information on the location of this person”?
Unfortunately, you have to personally serve a person where he/she lives or at work, or serve an adult who lives at the residence. If, after exercising reasonable diligence you still cannot find the person, you can publish the summons and complaint only after receiving court approval. But, that generally is pointless since you still won't have an address when you want to collect.
It might be worth your while to invest in a private investigator to locate your "friend." You also might check Zabasearch.com to see if his/her address has been updated.
Re: Can I post “reward for information on the location of this person”?
First of all, you might be facing and invastion of privacy lawsuit if you post something like this online. You can probably find a process server or private investigator to find the debtor for less than the reward you might have given anyway. You can probably find someone to locate this person on Craiglist for a reasonable fee.
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