Even after you win a personal injury case and have been awarded monetary damages, you and your lawyer still face the task of getting the losing party who has the judgment against them (the debtor) to actually pay the sum named by the court. In some cases, the debtor may refuse to obey the court order or claim to be unable to pay the amount specified. In these instances, it may be necessary to take further steps to collect the award.

It's Not Always Easy to Collect

Most legitimate businesses and responsible individuals (who are financially stable) will quickly act to pay judgments against them. They do this to avoid further costs, as well as the unpleasantness of collection activities. However, if a debtor will not pay the judgment or is bankrupt, it can prove very difficult or even impossible for you to actually collect what you're owed.

Steps You Can Take

If you're forced to do it, there are certain steps you can take in an attempt to recover the judgment awarded to you. Which of the following you can try will depend on which state you live in.

1. Have your lawyer carry out a post-judgment discovery. This involves demands for production of documents, depositions and a series of questions in order to locate all of the debtor's assets and income.
2. Contact the court and schedule a hearing. Demonstrate that the debtor owes you money because of the judgment and has not paid the amount designated by the court. Then request that you be allowed to garnish this amount from the debtor's wages. Unfortunately, there two problems with this. The first is that most states limit the amount you can garnish. The second is that the debtor may be unemployed, leaving you with nothing to garnish. But you don't have to limit yourself just to wages, since you can also garnish monies held in bank accounts.
3. Have the sheriff seize money or property from the debtor. In addition to getting money from the register or the company safe, you can also have the sheriff seize computer equipment, machinery or other valuable assets. It's important that only law enforcement personnel should be involved in seizing the property. Otherwise you could be involved in further litigation.
4. Keep in mind that in many states, there is a ten-year time limit on collecting judgments. However, when that judgment expires, you're usually allowed to renew it for another ten years. The reason why this matters is that even if the debtor does not have valuable assets or income now, this doesn't mean that they won't have them in the future.

For more information on the process, talk to local resources such as The Reed Noble Law Firm PLLC.