Specialized Tactics

When plaintiffs are trying to collect on a judgment, most follow the common enforcement methods such as a debtors exam, property levy or garnishments only to be stuck with nothing more then another bill from their lawyer. 

The truth is some cases require outside of the box thinking in order to get creditors creditors paid. While these tactics can be used in any situation, judgments against celebrities, musicians, politicians, athletes and other high profile individuals typically require these types of actions to yield a favorable result. 

Motions for assignment are a necessary recovery action when dealing with any judgment debtor in the music, influencer or film industries. When a musician or actor signs with a studio they never directly sign an agreement between the artist and the label. There are often shell entities that are the artists production outfit which is then owned by a marketing outfit that is owned by another entity, often multiple levels deep. What an assignment motion does is forces contract funds due on behalf of one entity such as a record label or a clothing retailer to pay the judgment holder instead. When trying to collect from high profile individuals multiple assignment motions are often filed to trap royalties from cosmetic lines, clothing lines and record labels. To often they need to be filed multiple times because funds often pass through multiple shell entities before reaching the actual debtor. Motions for assignment can also be used against corporate debtors. When a company is owed money from another company a creditor can seek an assignment motion that is served to the company that owes the debtor forcing any accounts payable due to the debtor company to be redirected to the judgment creditor. 

Many creditors with judgments think that the courts are the only outlet for enforcement of a judgment. Often times however regulatory agencies that govern the industry a debtor operates in can be a far greater avenue then the courts. The bottom line is anything done within the courts takes an exuberant amount of time. Most debtors leverage the fact that they can operate even with a judgment over their heads for months because of the time it takes for anything to actually happen. Many regulatory boards require companies however to remain solvent and free of court judgments in order to remain licensed or to renew a professional license. Notifying these regulatory boards of your judgment turns the problem into a now issue for the debtor versus a 6 months down the road issue with the courts. 

While a judgment is not needed for a creditor to file a bond claim, having the matter already adjudicated makes the process much simpler. Many companies are required to maintain a bond to operate. This is especially true of contractors and trucking companies. By filing a bond claim, the bond company pays the claim to a certain amount and then the rights to recovery the debt or a part of the debt are assigned to them to pursue. Like an insurance policy they are paying because the defendant pays them a premium to hold this bond. Finding the appropriate underwriter for the bond is not always simple as the company that writes the bond is not typically the responsible party that underwrites the bond. While the bond may not pay the full amount of the claim if there is limited coverage it can be a good tactic to realizing money on the judgment quickly.