Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Make sure the employer has been properly served with a copy

of the summons (issued by the court). If they fail to comply with the summons

without jusifiable reason, the employer could be liable (which they may not

fully understand).

Well, first, collecting on a judgment is often more difficult than the original lawsuit.

The truth is that what debt collection attorneys involves more what they do AFTER winning a judgment, then simply winning a judgment.

However, ASSUMING that everything about your garnishment is in order, you can request from the court a "Rule to Show Cause."

Be careful, though. It might be that they are ignoring the garnishment summons because there are some defects in it.

Or maybe because the person no longer works there.

Make sure that the garnishment summons has been properly served on the employer. Often times there is a problem with WHOM at the employer the summons is served on. It is always best to serve it on the registered agent.

While the Court clerk will NOT give you legal advice, they often WILL show you how to fill out the forms correctly. Go in the afternoon when they are not busy. Don't ask "What should I do?" Ask "Am I filling out this form correclty?"

Assuming tha tthe garnishment form was filled out correctly and served properly, you can then ask the Court to issue a "RULE TO SHOW CAUSE."

This is another form. Make sure that you fill this one out correctly. I once lost on this by checking the wrong box.

However, if all is done properly, you can then collect from the employer 100% of the judgment that the employee owes you.

If they simply ignore the garnishment, you can colect ALL the money from the emlpoyer, and it is their problem to get it back from the employee.

However, what often ends up happening is that they file an answer saying that the person no longer works there.

(If they lie, they will be in even bigger trouble with the Court. I am just saying that often this happens because it is an ex-employee and they do not believe they have to file anything.)