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So I'm trying to file a small claims case against this guy who never built the deck that I payed him a deposit to do so...it's been over a year and several months since last contact. I've already tried certified mail and sheriff's to serve to the addresses I was able to find with no luck so far. Anyone ever run into this issue and how did you find success in getting the person served with the court papers? Thanks!
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Oct 29, 2021 16:46
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 19:15 |
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How much did you give him? Have you already tried an auditor search? How did you initially established contact? Disclaimer I have no idea what I'm talking about but I'm clever and this thread is fun. This should probably be cross-posted to the legal questions thread
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Nov 5, 2021 21:05
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Depending on how much this is worth to you, you could hire a private investigations agency/process server to locate and serve the defendant. Typically in civil suits the county sheriff will give it X attempts before it's effectively undeliverable. If the deck builder has a company there might be an address on file with the Secretary of State that differs from what you have. Conversely, if you are trying to serve the business address then finding his home address would be a good move.
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Nov 5, 2021 22:14
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You could try going down to the county courthouse and doing some name searches in their digital records to see if anything pops up. Maybe you'd find an alternate address or a family member. You could also try online search engines like Zabasearch (though I wouldn't pour too much money into that). Realistically I think that if the guy hasn't been seen in more than a year and the sheriffs can't contact him, then he's probably going to be more trouble to pull money out of than the cost of your deposit. https://lifehacker.com/how-to-track-down-anyone-online-329033 Kaal fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Dec 15, 2021 |
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Dec 15, 2021 14:53
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Came to this late, but the best way to do this is to hire a licensed process server. It feels dirty to advertise on the forums, but I can help you (or anyone else) in this matter if you want. Just send me a pm.
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Dec 20, 2021 05:51
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I don't get it, file your suit, if they don't show up they'll default judgement them and it's the court's problem to find them and make them pay.
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Dec 25, 2021 21:30
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| # ? Apr 16, 2024 19:15 |
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Quaint Quail Quilt posted:I don't get it, file your suit, if they don't show up they'll default judgement them and it's the court's problem to find them and make them pay. many cases lack of proper service is a defense against a default judgement. if you're hr department comes up to you and says "hey, we got this garnishment notice" you can call up the clerk of courts go "hey, this is the first i'm hearing about this!" and get a new court date. my ex's family owned a roofing company that when dad was on a meth bender would specialize in dodging service for uncompleted work that was paid for (i will say, the work they did do was rock solid, just...wouldn't always finish jobs), when the odd person would actually manage to get a court date set without proof of service, they'd keep coming up with new reasons to reset the date, and about 75% of the time the client would just give up cause it was costing them more in taking time off work, etc than it was worth to just hire a new company to finish the job. also, in small claims, YOU'RE the one that has to chase them down and make them pay. The judge just says you're allowed to legally do it, you still have to be the one to jump through the hoops for getting a garnishment/bank levy/etc. Dr Jankenstein fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Dec 27, 2021 |
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Dec 27, 2021 14:05
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