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In those rare cases where someone's judgment gets recovered, it is most often enforced by a levy of the debtor's real or personal property. Physical or cash-related (fungible) asset garnishment procedures are clearly defined and well known to Sheriffs ad courts. Although a judgment debtor's intangible property can often be attached by levy and sold to satisfy a judgment, the process is usually less reliable and more complex. Intangible assets include things like trademarks, copyrighted works, patented inventions, trade secrets, literary and music works, art, internet domain names, and the goodwill of the debtor business's name, etc. This article is my opinion and is not, legal advice. I am the judgment broker, and not a lawyer. When you want legal advice or a strategy to use, you should contact a lawyer. Most judgment debtor do not own any kind of intellectual assets, and even when they do own them, finding it's not always easy. Methods to discover intellectual property include web searching, debtor examinations and document production requests, talking with ex-spouses or ex-friends of the debtor, custom web-based searches and services, or paying a PI. A challenging levy situation happens when your company owns almost no physical property, although their business has many customers and lots of of goodwill; an example would be a financial planning business. To attempt to avoid paying your judgment, they may change their company name, requiring an (e.g.) successor-liability or alter ego court battle. This is a reason to include people on lawsuits in addition to companies, whenever possible and appropriate. A company's goodwill and/or intellectual assets may get fraudulently transferred. Lots of successor corporation liability claims and alter ego claims are accompanied by claims for fraudulent transfer. Lots of claims of fraudulent transfer come with claims of unjust enrichment. Attempting to garnishment your debtor's intellectual property is something which one should probably hire an attorney to do. A court-appointed receiver sometimes gets appointed to recover a judgment and gets authorized to sell off the (e.g.) patent, trademark, or copyright ownership. A debtor's intellectual property often has a certain amount of financial worth, and might also have some sentimental or pride-related value as well. For that reason, sometimes beginning your levy process will cause your judgment debtor to quickly repay a judgment. In most states, in all lawsuits, including intangible asset and/or fraudulent transfer lawsuits, when the lawsuit comes to evidence exhibits; you must create documents which conform with the court rules and laws. An example is a subpoena for the production of business documents. Subpoenaed records have to be given to a deposition officer, usually a professional photocopier who is a non-affiliated third party. Relevant California laws related to topics in this article include CCPs 680.210, 699.080, 700.170, 982, 2020.420, and Commercial Code section 9102. There are a few judges that to this day do not fully understand a idea of transfers involving intangible assets. This difficulty can come up when a judge can't point to a thing, such as a business equipment or a truck; that could cause it to be more difficult to argue and prove a case. Yet success is possible, especially for an attorney. If your lawsuit is post judgment, that proceeding is a hearing, not a trial. Because such hearings are post-judgment, a post-judgment subpoena gets used, not a deposition subpoena. When you need answers/testimony or documents from the judgment debtor or 3rd-parties, you need to prepare your own (pleading paper style) document. Such documents are most often titled a "judgment creditor's post judgment demand for the production of documents and other tangible things". Subpoenas (alone or with document requests) must get personally served on the people or their attorney(s) of record. The timeline for serving a subpoena depends on the court. Post-judgment examinations begin by asking a court clerk to issue your subpoena, and also possibly preparing Subpoena Duces Tecums (SDTs), requesting a production of documents from the debtor or 3rd-parties. Third parties are most often limited to people that possess direct knowledge of the (e.g.) nature of, worth, or the way your judgment debtor's intellectual assets are utilized. You may need to hire an expert witness to attest to the present or future value of your debtor's intellectual assets. If you hire a witness, they are considered to be a friendly witness. If you subpoena other 3rd-party witnesses, as an example, an accountant for your judgment debtor; they might be hostile witnesses. Friendly or hostile, witnesses can most often be ordered to produce records and answer questions about (e.g.) how much in royalties or commissions were transferred to who and when, etc. Mark D. Shapiro of: http://www.JudgmentBuy.com - The easiest and fastest free way to find the best expert to recover or buy your judgment.
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Intangible assets property, Intangible Asset Levies, Intangible Asset Garnishments,
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