Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Indiana

Re: Can an individual garnish another's wages?

Garnishment is a way for a prevailing party in a lwasuit to receive the judgment entered by the court. This means that a court must find for the individual first, which means you will have to sue the "friend" that borrowed the money. Also, in Indiana, the jurisdiction of small claim courts is limited to certain actions and to maximum amount of damages claimed. What this means is that certain lawsuits cannot be filed in small claims court if they exceed a dollar amount or if the court is not allowed to hear that type of issue. Although the issue (breach of contract, payment on account)you have is within the jurisdiction of the small claims court, the amount in question exceeds what most claim courts in Indiana can adjudicate. In Marion county (and perhaps Lake and Allen counties) the maximum is $6,000. In every other county, the maximum is $3,000. Consequently, the only way you could go to small claims court is to reduce the amount of the lawsuit to come within the monetary limits of your small claims court. If you won in small claims court (whichever one that may be), then you would go back in and try to collect the judgment in a supplemental proceeding. In the supplemental hearing, you would try to find out if the friend had any non-exempt assets and obtain information to get a garnishment order issued by the judge. After you had the garnishment order issued, then your friend's employer would be compelled to withhold an amount each pay period and send it to the clerk of the court to be forwarded to you.