How to collect a default judgement in NJ

[quincy]

Hmm. It sure appears as if I never really read this thread. Haha.

I am backing away slowly now.

 

[Litigator22]

We're in NJ. On 10/19/18 we were awarded a default judgement totaling $792.00 against a furniture store. Our attempts to contact the store manager to collect the money have been repeatedly ignored. Our attorney advised us to contact the Hudson County sheriff's office to collect, but when I called their office they referred me back to the court in Jersey City. The man I spoke to there referred me to the booklet we were given in court with instructions on how to collect. The problem is that the instructions apply to collecting from an individual, not a business. We can't have a lien placed against personal property or real estate, we can't have wages garnished and we have no way of finding out what bank the business holds accounts with. I'm getting a runaround and no closer to collecting our award. Suggestions, please?

One does not simply "contact" the County Sheriff's Office! First the judgment creditor must secure and deliver to the sheriff's office a writ of execution together with instructions identifying the character and location of the assets within the county that you want seized and sold to satisfy the judgment. Understand, however, that it is not a simple "user-friendly" process. Certainly not one that I would recommend to the layperson.

If you want a go at it then start by reading New Jersey Court Rules Rule 4:59 Process to Enforce Judgments. *After which I'm confident that you'll agree that the wiser course is to turn the judgment over to a licensed collector.

[*]
https://www.njcourts.gov/attorneys/rules.html

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

I fixed that link for you Litigator.

https://www.njcourts.gov/attorneys/rules.html

 

[Zigner]

A packet for self-represented litigants on How to File a Motion to Turnover Funds is available in any New Jersey Special Civil Part Office and at njcourts.gov.

https://www.njcourts.gov/forms/10282_collect_money_jdgmnt.pdf

(The web search I suggested in the beginning points to this as the first result)


EDIT: Here is the full text of the portion of that PDF that speaks to bank levies:

Bank Levy
If you know or can find out where the debtor has a savings or checking account in New Jersey, you may ask that a special civil part officer collect your debt from the money in the account using this writ. Special civil part officers are not required to search for the debtor’s bank accounts. You must provide the name of the bank, the address and no more than the last 4 digits of the account number, if possible. Do not provide the Special Civil Part Office with the debtor’s entire active financial account number. Provide it to the officer directly if necessary. If there is a new address subsequently provided to the officer where an asset could be available to satisfy the judgment, an additional mileage fee could be charged.
After the money has been levied upon by the special civil part officer, it is considered frozen. You must then file a Motion to Turn Over Funds with the court and serve a copy upon the debtor and the bank. A packet for self-represented litigants on How to File a Motion to Turnover Funds is available in any New Jersey Special Civil Part Office and at njcourts.gov. If the court grants the motion, the judge will sign the Order to Turn Over Funds that you submitted with your motion. This order will be delivered to the bank by the special civil part officer. The officer will then obtain the money from the bank first, deposit it into his/her own officer trust account and then mail a check to the creditor or creditor’s attorney by the 15th day of the month following the successful month of deposit.

 

[Zigner]

One does not simply "contact" the County Sheriff's Office! ...

Actually, there are instruction for the procedure that is required, as pointed out in my post above this.

 

[adjusterjack]

I understand that the store manager isn't responsible for satisfying the judgment but he's the only contact we have. We're not trying to collect from him; we're trying to get him to contact the store owner.

He has no obligation to do that.

Even before we ended up suing, the store manager kept promising to contact the store owner to pay for the damages caused by their deliverymen before he ended up ghosting us and leaving us no choice but to sue for the money.

Delay is the deadliest form of denial.

They never even showed up for court.

They might never have received it or just don't care. Did you look up the business to check the ownership before you sued? Did you use a process server?

 

[Litigator22]

We sued the business. I understand that the store manager isn't responsible for satisfying the judgment but he's the only contact we have. We're not trying to collect from him; we're trying to get him to contact the store owner. Even before we ended up suing, the store manager kept promising to contact the store owner to pay for the damages caused by their deliverymen before he ended up ghosting us and leaving us no choice but to sue for the money. They never even showed up for court. No idea who their attorney is, either.

A point has been made here that seems worthy of further discussion. To explain:

You write that you "sued the business"; the ''business" did not appear to contest your complaint resulting in the default judgment. And that the "business" is ignoring your demands for satisfaction of the judgment.

I'm going with Q and ajax and suggest that the reason for being ignored might be because you have failed to correctly name the responsible party and/or the named party was not properly served with process. It would not be uncommon in a small claims setting for a claimant to sue a d/b/a and not the legal entity using the fictitious business name. Or knowing the identity of the legal entity not knowing how to effect service of process.

And just because some small claims judge may have entered a default against the name appearing in your complaint doesn't necessary mean that you have complied with the above; that the judge's action was proper.

Another aspect is now presented and that is these "deliverymen" (plural). Did you sue the business owner's "deliverymen" as well as the owner of the business. If not, why did you choose not to join the deliverymen? What proof did you present to the court to establish that the persons that allegedly damaged your property were acting in the employment of the business owner and not as independent contractors?

Whatever, take a certified copy of your judgment to an licensed bill collector. They can tell you whether it is worth more than the paper it is written on.