Question about filling out a legal form for L.A. Superior Court
March 20, 2015 6:51 PM   Subscribe

I need to fill out L.A. Superior Court form EJ-130 in order to obtain a writ of execution for a judgment I have won. I have now been rejected twice because of one field they claim I didn't fill out correctly.

The field in question is field 4, which is labeled "Judgement Debtor (name, type of legal entity stated in judgment if not a natural person, and last known address)

The judgment lists the defendant as [COMPANY NAME], INC.

I wrote:
[company name], Inc.
(a corporation)
[address]

Should I not have included "(a corporation)"? I actually put this on the unofficial advice of a lawyer friend, but I guess maybe since it is not "stated in the judgment" I shouldn't? The only other thing I can think of is that the judgement lists the company name in all caps, but it couldn't possibly be that- could it??

Does anyone have experience filling out this form, or have any clue what I am missing? Just want to make sure because each rejection costs me three weeks or so.

Link to the form (pdf)

Preemptive: No, I will not be paying a lawyer to fill out this ostensibly simple form for me.
posted by drjimmy11 to Law & Government (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
Was it an online submission rejecting you automatically? Or were you at a desk in person and they rejected it face-to-face? If the latter, did you ask why? Oh! Are you doing it by mail and the 3 weeks is the turnaround to get the response? If it's that, go to a courthouse in person so you can ask what the issue is. You'll probably have to wait in line for a long time at the clerk's office - sorry.

How EXACTLY is the corporation named in the form of judgment? Does it say "a corporation" or "a California corporation" or nothing or what? Just put that. The "inc" signals that it's a corporation.

Finally, why are you filing in LA county? Is the judgment debtor actually located there?
posted by Joey Buttafoucault at 7:18 PM on March 20, 2015


Response by poster: The only way to submit the form is to take it to the courthouse.

You hand it in at a desk, they take it and mail it back to you when they process it. There's a sign there saying the workers can't give legal advice, though I find some actually will.

How EXACTLY is the corporation named in the form of judgment?
DEFENDANT: [COMPANY NAME], Inc.

Nothing else is printed under "defendant."

Finally, why are you filing in LA county?
They are here and I am here and the judgment was issued here by the L.A. Superior Court. There is no possible way or reason to file anywhere else.
posted by drjimmy11 at 7:22 PM on March 20, 2015


Best answer: I would go back to writing the corporation name as it appears in the judgement.
Which means including the "Inc." which does indicate what type of legal entity this is.
And do not include the "(a corporation)" text.

Here is a sample from another court, but it uses the same form and shows "ABC Corporation" as the company name.
It is listed as Form E at the Legal Aid Society--Employment Law Center

https://las-elc.org/sites/default/files/self-help/Collecting_Your_Judgment.pdf

Another resource might be the LA Law Library website.
posted by calgirl at 7:49 PM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Sometimes local bar associations or legal aid organizations offer free legal clinics to anyone, and some attorneys may offer free or low-cost consultations. More information is available on the MeFi wiki Get a Lawyer page, including links to directories of state-specific resources.

A consultation with an attorney may save you a lot of time and aggravation, and an attorney can tell you if the cost of the consultation can be added to your judgment. An attorney can also provide guidance about the next steps in the process, to help make sure that you get it right the first time.
posted by Little Dawn at 7:56 PM on March 20, 2015


If the resources calgirl points to don't help, call a legal aid office and ask if there is a self-help guide or self-help desk in the county. Although legal aid offices usually have very strict income guidelines for the people they can accept as clients, they almost always have published materials that anyone can access and often run help desks that don't have the same income requirements.

I imagine you've done some searching already, but you might try specifically searching at legal aid sites. I seem to recall California uses "pro per" instead of "pro se", but either might be a useful search term, in addition to the form name.
posted by crush-onastick at 7:56 PM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks! As a follow-up question, does anyone know if and how I could find and attorney who would help finish collecting the judgement on an hourly basis?

Earlier in the process (this began as a wage claim), I had talked to an employment attorney would agreed to take the case on contingency for a rather sizable percentage, I think 20%. Inexplicably, she then spoke to my former employer once, apparently believed their obviously false story with no evidence, and dropped the case.

This was a blessing in disguise because I was able to go through the wage claim process and win by myself, since I had the truth and all the evidence on my my side. So I'd be willing to maybe spend a few hundred dollars for an attorney to spend a few hours finishing this, but there is no way I am giving 20%, which would be around $3000 by now, for someone to just send some forms to the Sheriff's Department.
posted by drjimmy11 at 8:17 PM on March 20, 2015 [1 favorite]


Yes, it probably is possible to find an attorney to assist with collecting the judgment, including on an hourly basis or for a fixed fee. More information about how to find an attorney is available at the MeFi Wiki page Get a Lawyer.
posted by Little Dawn at 8:28 PM on March 20, 2015


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