Collecting on Fraud Judgement on a agent and RE scam

[Norm Park]

Hey BP. I have been contemplating on whether or not to post. But if anyone can help, I'll probably find it on this form.

I won't go into too much detail, but will paint general picture. Myself and partners invested a significant amount of money with an agent in North Carolina to develop land that he owned, then split up and sell. The agent ended up keeping our money, claimed he needed it to keep his business afloat and tried to file for bankruptcy. We took him to court, won a judgement with punitive damages (triple the amount).

Even after he filed for bankruptcy, we were not discharged as debtors. BUT, he put his wife on title of his properties. Apparently in NC, if your spouse is on title, it essentially becomes untouchable to debtors. This coupled with the fact that NC doesn't allow for wage garnishment, we are essentially left with a useless fraud judgement. The only positive is that we went to RE commission and his license was suspended for 3 years? 

We have a judgement for 10 years, which can be extended for another 10 (20 total), but we essentially have a useless fraud judgement. Any suggestions or strategies on how to go about collecting sometime down the road?

Thanks in advance

[Nate Wightman]

could you lien it... 

Courts have the inherent ability to enforce their decisions. A person who refuses to appear in court when summoned will have a warrant issued for their arrest. A person who refuses to pay damages a court has awarded can, among other things, be sent to jail for contempt, have their assets seized, their paycheck garnished, and their property encumbered by lien. Which one of these happens is determined by some combination of what the plaintiff wants and what the judge considers to be appropriate. This is one area where judges have a lot of discretion.

All of this, as Jaltcoh suggests, are contingent upon their ability to pay. An impecunious defendant who has their wits about them will simply file for bankruptcy as soon as a judgment is awarded, which gives plaintiffs some incentive to either 1) not bring the suit in the first place, or 2) settle for an amount within the defendant's reach. But provided the defendant hasanything of value, the court can get at it.

Note that getting thrown in jail for refusing to pay your debts is not the same thing as debtor's prison, which was the now-antiquated practice of throwing those who could not pay into jail until such time as they could. How exactly they were supposed to come up with the money was one of the unanswered questions which lead to the eventual abandonment of the practice. No, refusing to pay a debt which you are capable of paying is contempt of court, and judges can totally toss your *** in jail for thumbing your nose at them.
posted by valkyryn at 10:29 AM on August 6, 2010 [4 favorites]

found at http://ask.metafilter.com/161564/If-you-sue-and-win-a-reluctant-payer-will-you-ever-see-any-money