In February I described the abrupt breakup of the ubiquitous revival band Whitesidewalls and the acrimony between the band’s then-owner and some people who had booked the band for upcoming gigs. The Whitesidewalls are still kicking, with its founding members powering up the amps once more. On May 19, a Steele County judge ordered former owner Kathy Worke of Medford, Minn. to pay $1,215 to Sid Korpi, who had booked the elusive band for her Geezer Gala Alzheimer’s Association fundraiser in Minneapolis in March. It was a default judgment, after Worke didn’t contest Korpi’s claim that her contract with the band was violated. Worke’s failure to respond to a Better Business Bureau inquiry also earned the Whitesidewalls an “F” rating from the BBB, although it was based on Korpi’s single complaint.

It’s one thing to win a judgment in conciliation court, which is what Minnesota calls its small claims court. It’s another to collect the money. Korpi said she wants to take every action she can to collect the judgment. Here’s how the Minnesota court system describes the next steps after you’ve won in court:

If the debtor does not pay you and the 20 day time to appeal has expired, you may decide to take steps to legally “enforce” the judgment. Conciliation Court is not a collection agency and cannot help you locate assets of the other party. You have to do that. Garnishment of a debtor’s wages or bank accounts may be an option to enforce a judgment, and another option might be to file a lien against real estate owned by the debtor. Talk to a Lawyer to get legal advice on other options.

Enforcing a judgment may involve additional fees. These fees may be added to the original judgment and can be collected if the debtor’s assets can be found. The steps to begin enforcing the judgment are listed below.

STEP 1:
You must have your Conciliation Court judgment “transcribed” to the District Court and file an Affidavit of Identification. Contact your court administrator to complete the transcribing process.

STEP 2:
After you transcribe the judgment to District Court, you can ask the court administrator to issue a “Writ of Execution” to garnish wages or bank accounts. You then take the “Writ of Execution” to the Sheriff’s office with a list of property, bank accounts, and other funds which belong to the judgment debtor and/or the name of the debtor’s employer.

If you don’t have any information about the debtor’s assets, you can send the debtor a Financial Disclosure form. If the debtor does not voluntarily complete and return the Financial Disclosure form to the creditor, the creditor may file a Request for Order for Disclosure with the court administrator asking that a judge issue an “Order for Disclosure.” That order requires the debtor to respond and disclose all “non-exempt” property and financial information to you within ten (10) days. Some assets are “exempt” from collection by the Sheriff, which means they cannot be taken to pay your judgment.

STEP 3:
If the debtor fails to respond to the Order for Disclosure within the time allowed, the creditor may file an Affidavit in Support of Order to Show Cause. If the court determines that you meet all of the requirements, it can issue an “Order to Show Cause,” which requires the debtor to go to a hearing and explain to the judge why he or she disobeyed the Order for Disclosure. If debtor fails to appear at the hearing, the judge may issue a warrant for his or her arrest.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 4th, 2009 at 1:22 pm and is filed under Businesses in hot water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.