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Posted

Random, but I am potentially going to have to go to small claims court to receive relief from an incident that occurred at a state funded agency where the agency will end up being the defendant. For purposes of proof/evidence, I will actually need video tape from the agency's surveillance cameras. 

Any chance in hell I will be able to get that?  I included in my initial claims/demand/settlement offer letter that I request that they hold all available evidence, video etc, but I'm not sure how to go about getting that for my own purposes. I am planning on defending myself, and this is my first experience doing something like this, so any non-binding legal advice is welcomed.

Posted

You need to make it clear from the beginning that you are putting the whole system on trial. In addition, studies have shown that mentioning a “Code Red” will improve your chances of success dramatically.

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Posted

I hear that most judges in small claims courts will give your side bonus points if you can work in some classic references like "now we see the violence inherent in the system" and "help! help! I'm being repressed!".

Posted

"State-funded" or state agency?  First, familiarize yourself with the Texas Tort Claims Act. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.101.htm

 

Particularly,

Quote

Sec. 101.101. NOTICE. (a) A governmental unit is entitled to receive notice of a claim against it under this chapter not later than six months after the day that the incident giving rise to the claim occurred. The notice must reasonably describe:

(1) the damage or injury claimed;

(2) the time and place of the incident; and

(3) the incident.

(b) A city's charter and ordinance provisions requiring notice within a charter period permitted by law are ratified and approved.

(c) The notice requirements provided or ratified and approved by Subsections (a) and (b) do not apply if the governmental unit has actual notice that death has occurred, that the claimant has received some injury, or that the claimant's property has been damaged.

Discovery can only be obtained by court order, so you have to apply to the court to obtain discovery of surveillance video.  You might be better off filing an Open Records request before you file suit.  Keep the request and the response paperwork as it may be needed to authenticate the tape.

 

Posted
13 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

"State-funded" or state agency?  First, familiarize yourself with the Texas Tort Claims Act. https://statutes.capitol.texas.gov/Docs/CP/htm/CP.101.htm

 

Particularly,

Discovery can only be obtained by court order, so you have to apply to the court to obtain discovery of surveillance video.  You might be better off filing an Open Records request before you file suit.  Keep the request and the response paperwork as it may be needed to authenticate the tape.

 

all of this

Posted

If you don't mention  that a fringed flag is that of the Admiralty & as such, means it is a kangaroo court that is invalid under the Constitution of the United States of America, then you are doing the rest of us a disservice & thus worthy of our scorn.

Gotdammit, you ARE a sovereign citizen!  If you don't defend your rights, you have doomed us all!

Posted

Most small claims judges are like bookies - they like to make everyone happy and compromise, so no one's happy.

Count on the judge giving you some small brownie points for showing up, but not an outright "win".

I've been there, done that, seen it too much.  Oh, I also slept with a small claims administrator who was Puerto Rican, had incredibly great tits but kind of skinny in the tush.  Include that in your affidavit.

Posted
3 hours ago, phdhorn said:

I've been there, done that, seen it too much.  Oh, I also slept with a small claims administrator who was Puerto Rican, had incredibly great tits but kind of skinny in the tush.  Include that in your affidavit.

Affidavit inadmissible without pics.  See Best Evidence Rule.

  • 1 year later...
Posted
On 7/16/2018 at 11:23 AM, Enchubben said:

Random, but I am potentially going to have to go to small claims court to receive relief from an incident that occurred at a state funded agency where the agency will end up being the defendant. For purposes of proof/evidence, I will actually need video tape from the agency's surveillance cameras. 

Any chance in hell I will be able to get that?  I included in my initial claims/demand/settlement offer letter that I request that they hold all available evidence, video etc, but I'm not sure how to go about getting that for my own purposes. I am planning on defending myself, and this is my first experience doing something like this, so any non-binding legal advice is welcomed.

 

Posted

You have essentially two options.  First is to have the sheriff/constable "execute" (issue or "sue out" a writ of execution) on the assets of the defendant.  That means s/he goes to their home, knocks on the door, surveys the property to see if there's anything obviously not within Texas' exempt property limitations (corporations and entitles have no exemptions), seizes it if any, sells it at an auction and turns over proceeds to you.

A much more powerful tool is the writ of garnishment, but you have to have an idea where his bank accounts are.  That is a writ issued in the name of the bank/institution that causes assets to be frozen until a hearing can be had.  Checks bounce, deposits get frozen also.  It's fantastic.

Both of these are more or less within the ability of most laypeople.  There is a third, the turnover order, that is not.

 

 

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Posted (edited)
On 4/10/2020 at 4:46 PM, Nolacycling said:

If I win a judgement in small claims court and the defendant can't/ doesn't pay what are my options?

Be careful with the Writ of Garnishment because you have to pay the bank’s attorneys fees. I once garnished an account that had $200 in it, and my client had to pay $500 in attorneys fees. You should definitely record an Abstract of Judgment in the county records which will become a lien on any real property they own in that county. They are good for 10 years.  If the debtor wants to buy or sell real property in that county, they’ll need to pay the judgment to get the judgment lien released. 

Edited by cabowabo
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  • 5 years later...
Posted

I won a judgement in JP court against a large corporation.  The 21 day appeal window has expired.  The judge said after 21 days I am free to try to collect and he applied 7.5% interest "per annum" until they pay.  What is my next step in collecting this money?

Posted
8 hours ago, TexasGary said:

I won a judgement in JP court against a large corporation.  The 21 day appeal window has expired.  The judge said after 21 days I am free to try to collect and he applied 7.5% interest "per annum" until they pay.  What is my next step in collecting this money?

What kind of defendant?  Natural person or entity?  In either case, one thing you can do is issue a writ of execution.  In that, a constable goes to the residence or place of business and seizes non-exempt property to satisfy the judgment.  If a person, they have exemptions that a constable is unlikely to "pierce" except in a really obvious case.  Businesses have no exemptions.

If you happen to know where their bank is, you can do a writ of garnishment, and if there are sufficient funds, that is one of the swiftest and surest ways of getting paid.

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Posted

Too late to edit.  Saw "large corporation."  So they have no exemptions and a constable ought to be able to go seize some shit worth the amount of your judgment, pretty easily.

One problem you may run into, though, is most corporations have multiple subsidiaries and whatnot and so finding assets actually owned by the corporation you have a judgment against might be a challenge.

However, once you send a constable out on a writ of execution, the people present may not have the snap to assert that everything on site is owned by X Corp Assets, LLC instead of X Corp.  They will probably call the legal department, who will probably call you and arrange a settlement, post-haste.

 

Posted
3 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

Too late to edit.  Saw "large corporation."  So they have no exemptions and a constable ought to be able to go seize some shit worth the amount of your judgment, pretty easily.

One problem you may run into, though, is most corporations have multiple subsidiaries and whatnot and so finding assets actually owned by the corporation you have a judgment against might be a challenge.

However, once you send a constable out on a writ of execution, the people present may not have the snap to assert that everything on site is owned by X Corp Assets, LLC instead of X Corp.  They will probably call the legal department, who will probably call you and arrange a settlement, post-haste.

 

Thanks for the reply.  Am I suppose to attempt to contact them first or are they supposed to pay upon receipt of the judges order?  My judgement is for around $2300 and they are the owners of a building in Collin County that is appraised by the county for more than $4 million.

Posted
4 minutes ago, TexasGary said:

Thanks for the reply.  Am I suppose to attempt to contact them first or are they supposed to pay upon receipt of the judges order?  My judgement is for around $2300 and they are the owners of a building in Collin County that is appraised by the county for more than $4 million.

Same corporation that you have the judgment against?  If so, that's maybe a good sign that they don't have a bunch of corporate nesting shenanigans that might prevent you from seizing the assets.  As part of the execution, the constable can actually post the real property for "sheriff's sale," but that seems fairly uncommon except in real-estate transactions.

Also, want to record that judgment in Collin County and anywhere else you think they may have assets (Dallas, Denton, etc.).

Did they default on the judgment?  If they did, despite the appeal period having lapsed, they could attempt to set aside the default on various grounds.

Contacting them and asking them to pay would be the super-courteous thing to do.  But it's not really required.

The thing operating massively in your favor here is that the judgment likely exceeds their attorneys fees in any effort to avoid it, so they're better off just paying you.  Doesn't mean they will, though.

 

Posted
6 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Did they default on the judgment?  If they did, despite the appeal period having lapsed, they could attempt to set aside the default on various grounds.

Couple of questions here.  How were they served?  If by publication, they have two years to set aside a default judgment in JP court.  Can you confirm they received notice of the default judgment?  That starts the timeline and they have 30 days from that date to try to set aside a default judgment (as opposed to appealing de novo to county court).  I'm pretty sure that restricted appeals and bills of review are not options in JP courts to set aside a default judgment.  But I'm going off the top of my head here.

 

So answer those two questions above before you make your next move.  If they were served by means other than publication and you can confirm they received notice of the judgment, wait more than 30 days from that date they received notice to make any moves.

 

/this isn't legal advice

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Posted
9 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Same corporation that you have the judgment against?  If so, that's maybe a good sign that they don't have a bunch of corporate nesting shenanigans that might prevent you from seizing the assets.  As part of the execution, the constable can actually post the real property for "sheriff's sale," but that seems fairly uncommon except in real-estate transactions.

Also, want to record that judgment in Collin County and anywhere else you think they may have assets (Dallas, Denton, etc.).

Did they default on the judgment?  If they did, despite the appeal period having lapsed, they could attempt to set aside the default on various grounds.

Contacting them and asking them to pay would be the super-courteous thing to do.  But it's not really required.

The thing operating massively in your favor here is that the judgment likely exceeds their attorneys fees in any effort to avoid it, so they're better off just paying you.  Doesn't mean they will, though.

 

Yes, the same corporation.  They are based in New Jersey.  Their agent is in Downtown Dallas.

They didn't show up to the trial so it was a default judgement. 

Okay, so the next step is to file a Writ of Execution.

Posted
1 minute ago, TexasGary said:

Yes, the same corporation.  They are based in New Jersey.  Their agent is in Downtown Dallas.

They didn't show up to the trial so it was a default judgement. 

Okay, so the next step is to file a Writ of Execution.

Did they answer the original claim?

dcbc gives good advice.  I'm not up on the rules of setting aside defaults, but best to let whatever deadlines for that pass before taking any action that could alert them.

Sounds like you served the registered agent in downtown Dallas?  That should be pretty valid service.  DId you do it or the constable/clerk?

Posted

Yes, they answered the original petition. It was from their Senior Litigation Specialist.  The judge reviewed it in court and said it was "vague" and that "they really didn't deny anything".

The judge told me that they had 21 days to appeal and that they would have to post an appeal bond of $4488.  That was October 13th which makes today day 21.

I did serve the registered agent in Dallas.  I used a private process server.  I have the process servers affidavit. 

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Posted
4 hours ago, TexasGary said:

Yes, they answered the original petition. It was from their Senior Litigation Specialist.  The judge reviewed it in court and said it was "vague" and that "they really didn't deny anything".

The judge told me that they had 21 days to appeal and that they would have to post an appeal bond of $4488.  That was October 13th which makes today day 21.

I did serve the registered agent in Dallas.  I used a private process server.  I have the process servers affidavit. 

So when did the judge sign the judgment?  Presumably it was mailed to the Senior Litigation Specialist.  But might check with the clerk to insure that that happened and when?  Wait the 30 days advised by dcbc before making any contact to avoid the possibility for setting aside the judgment for default at trial.  Actually, make it 33 days for service of the judgment by mail.

Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, TwiceHorn said:

So when did the judge sign the judgment?  Presumably it was mailed to the Senior Litigation Specialist.  But might check with the clerk to insure that that happened and when?  Wait the 30 days advised by dcbc before making any contact to avoid the possibility for setting aside the judgment for default at trial.  Actually, make it 33 days for service of the judgment by mail.

Definitely check with the clerk and if there's some sort of return receipt or email receipt, go 30 plus days from that date (when they received the judgment).  The 30 days is expiration of the judge's plenary power (power to set aside the DJ).  That's a separate timeline from their time to file notice of appeal, which also probably runs from the date they had notice of the judgment if that is different (later) than the date the judgment was signed.

Edited by dcbc
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Posted
5 hours ago, dcbc said:

Definitely check with the clerk and if there's some sort of return receipt or email receipt, go 30 plus days from that date (when they received the judgment).  The 30 days is expiration of the judge's plenary power (power to set aside the DJ).  That's a separate timeline from their time to file notice of appeal, which also probably runs from the date they had notice of the judgment if that is different (later) than the date the judgment was signed.

Thank you all for all of the information.  I got a message from the company this evening verifying my address and phone.  They are sending me a check in the next few days.

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Posted
12 hours ago, HRSchenker said:

This is so exciting! I'm just imaging you pulling up with a uhaul and loading up $2300 worth of office furniture/equipment. 

The toilet paper in that building is worth much more than the office furniture and equipment. 

8 hours ago, luke duke said:

Take every keyboard, mouse and all of the toilet paper.

Got all of the toilet paper plus the handy wipes.

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