Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in California

small claims court and collecting

i have an old roommate who owes money from rent, deposit on an apartment, bounced checks, and possesions in his car that was repossesed. he does not have a job or a legal address. he has been living with a friend and is not on her lease. how do i serve him with papers? and if i win the judgement, how do i get the money since he does not have a job? what are the costs of taking him to court. the total money owed is $740. is it worth it?


Asked on 8/18/02, 11:43 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Martin Lathrop Russakow, Ryan & Johnson

Re: small claims court and collecting

Given all the facts you have stated: the amount of the debt, the potential difficulty in service and the liklihood of him ever paying, I will tell you no.

That said, you can file in small claims-not too expensive-have him served-free if a friend who is over 18 years old does it for no charge-but the tough part will be collecting given the status of his employ. If you wanted to do it for satisfaction and practice-perhaps with the thought of going on to be a collections attorney-you would then get an abstract of the judgment, file it and also get a writ of execution to garnish his wages when he gets a job. Additionally after the judgment against him is obtained you can pull him into court under a Debtor's Exam and take any personal possesions he has on his person to help satisfy the debt and then go on to ask him questions to help you find assets.

As you can see, there are a number ways to collect for judgment creditors. I am just not sure you will get anything out of this individual and it will require a bit of time and effort on your part. Buena Suerte-Martin

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Answered on 8/19/02, 7:49 pm
Sheldon G. Bardach Law Offices of Sheldon G. Bardach

Re: small claims court and collecting

It is probably worth taking him to Small Claims Court, which has jurisdiction to hear matters up to Five thousand dollars ($5,000.00). It's

relatively inexpensive and fast. You end up with a judgment, but whether or not you will ever collect anything on it is hard to say. At least you will not have spent a lot of money or time to secure a judgment, which is good for ten (10) years and then is renewable. During which period

of time your judgment debtor may get into a more solvent position.

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Answered on 8/20/02, 12:36 am


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