Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in Virginia
Suing someone who works in DC, but case is in Virginia
My former tenant owes me 3 months rent, late fees and court fees. The
apartment was in Virginia. She works in DC. Now that she has moved, I have
served her at her place of employment in DC
My former tenant is a paralegal who works for a law firm in DC. The law firm
has refused to answer the court's garnishment summons or garnish my
tenants wages. I thought it was illegal for a company to refuse to answer a
garnishment summons.
I called and a person said they are not bound to answer a garnishment
summons in Viriginia and that the dispute was between me and my tenant,
and not me and the law firm.
What should I do? Do I have to start a whole new case in DC for the amount
that is owed me?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Suing someone who works in DC, but case is in Virginia
In order to garnish wages on your Virginia judgment, you can only serve garnishment papers on a Virginia business. If the law firm has a branch office in VA, then go ahead and serve the papers there. If they don't then you could domesticate your judgment in DC and then you can garnish wages based upon the DC judgment.