I received word from my attorney today that Jerry Moore, who unsuccessfully sued this blogger in Moore v. Hoff for supposedly defaming him, now owes this blogger almost four grand in costs. Here is a copy of the judgment, which was just emailed to me today, click here.
Trying to collect this money will prove INTERESTING to say the least. But it will certainly give me something to blog about.
It should be added....
....this is fairly common for clients of Jill Clark; to go to court with falsely inflated hopes but to find themselves owing respectable sums to the defendant when the tables turn.
Certainly I wouldn't be in the position of giving advice to Jerry Moore, but truthfully if he wanted to get this money out of Clark in a malpractice lawsuit I might even find myself in the position of sympathizing and delaying collection efforts pending the resolution of any such suit. I kind of doubt he has this kind of money laying around, what with all those....um....
Well, I mean, I kind of doubt Jerry has this kind of money laying around. Yeah.
But if I'm wrong and Jerry DOES have this money laying around, well, I say MAIL ME A CHECK.
14 comments:
Johnny, docket your judgment. It's good for 10 yrs. You can renew it once.
Really? If it's renewed once, how long is it good for after that?
Believe me, everything that can and should be done with this judgment WILL.
I say that it is high time that Jerry hits up his pals Donny and Al for a few dolla's because Johnny needs new shoes.
If Jerry is working at the the Jordan New Life HUB (or whereever he worke) you can garnish his wages.
I'm not a lawyer, but as I read that the clerk of the court is simply providing a statement. I don't see anywhere that a Judge has signed that document as a court order for Moore to pay JNS.
The real question is did JNS actually have those costs "out of pocket"? If those costs were covered by donations, or outside sources, Mr. Moore could petition the court to not have to pay that reimbursement.
In other words if JNS's costs were covered, and he didn't pay out of pocket, why should Moore pay JNS anything?
Is Jill Clark still Moore's attorney of record? Has she filed any notice of withdrawal anywhere in that regard? My understanding is there is a district court post judgment form which, when served on a judgment debtor, requires disclosure of assets. I believe that is true in all court districts.
If Clark still represents Moore you serve him by mail at his lawyer's law firm address. Then decide what to do. Trying for personal service on Moore is best. If you get personal service on Moore, and he declines to comply with post trial execution of judgment activity, you can pursue contempt procedures. There can ultimately even be a bench warrant for contempt.
Do fees and costs of executing a judgment get added to a judgment?
Check MS Sects. 541.04, and 548.09 [all of Ch. 548 is helpful]. If you docket the judgment and record an abstract in any county where Moore may own real estate, any real estate deal Moore is in is subject to a judicial lien.
Rather than learning law that way, you might investigate whether you can sell it at a reasonable discount to a collections agency or make a contingent fee arrangement with a law firm that specializes in collections practice. Godfread can advise you who might do that. Perhaps he'd take on the chase on a contingent fee basis. Ask him.
MS 548.48(c) - find out what the judgment rate is in Hennepin County by calling the clerk's office. I bet it pays better than Treasuries, but is not as secure. Probably the rate applies from date it is docketed. Paul Godfread will know what's needed at the district court level, to start the interest running. If Moore in the future contracts for "windows" in somebody's real estate closing and you attach it with the escrow agent before the deal closes ... it's yours as long as you do not procedurally misstep. That is a hypothetical, of course.
Do you think Moore/Clark will be petitioning for cert? Or might his money be better spent simply paying you off? An upfront cash payment, or its equivalent, if offered at a discount on the full judgment amount, might be worth considering. But do you think Moore will offer a bird in the hand?
It takes some looking around. MS Ch. 550, especially Sect. 550.011, may be JNS required reading, with the term "nonexempt property" entering into the JNS vocabulary. I expect if you do a Google Scholar search of Minnesota cases, for a search term of "550.011" you will find two unpublished cases. If Moore holds clear title to an auto ...
To the commenter at 12:08 AM who tried to say the document in question was just a "statement."
You're right. You're NOT a lawyer.
The document is a judgment and Moore owes me almost four grand. The fact it's signed by a CLERK is due to the very routine nature of who pays who the costs of the appeal when an appeal is successful.
To the poster who appears to know quite a bit about the law, riddle me this:
Is docketing automatic like it is in some states? (I hear Iowa is one example) Or must this document be walked over to the district court and docketed?
Dude, ask your LAWYER these questions!
JNS - 10:51 AM -- Phone the clerk's office. I expect it's a regular question they get from lawyers, and they'd have an answer for you by phone. With the judgment Ct.App. how they remand paper back and forth is a mystery.
JNS - 10:49 Am -- At a guess, it is entry of the judgment into the Ct.App. files, with it being the Clerk's job to see that files are maintained correctly. Q. - it might be into the Dist.Ct. = docketing?????
Readers might be interested in a follow-up post sequence. Making Jerry pay. Post what you learn.
BOTTOM LINE: Ask a lawyer, PG, and you/he can call the Dist. court clerk.
Docketing is NOT automatic in Minnesota. In fact there is a small fee you'll need to pay and show up in person.
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