Ascend Legal Solutions

You won your lawsuit and got a judgment. Now what?

I see this all the time - business owners think getting the judgment is the finish line. It's actually just the starting point of the next phase in your case - collection.

Here's what most people don't realize: A judgment is just a piece of paper saying someone owes you money. It doesn't magically put cash in your bank account.

In Texas, you have a number of collection options, including:

Bank account garnishment.
Non-exempt asset seizure via writ of ex*****on.
Lien on real property (abstract of judgment).
Post-judgment discovery to learn about their assets.
Charging order on LLC payments.
Court-appointed receiver to go after assets they are putting out of reach.

But here's the catch - each method has specific rules and procedures.

The judgment debtor also has rights and exemptions that can protect certain assets from collection.

Judgment collection strategy is just as important as trial preparation strategy. Don't let a hard-fought legal victory turn into an expensive piece of paper.

Imagine this: a process server shows up at your house and hands you a lawsuit with your name (not your LLC’s) on it. You panic…

It would be bad enough if the lawsuit were against your business, but against you personally, makes it that much worse. Don't panic. You might have options.

This actually happens more often than you think. Most often, one of these two things has happened: (a) the plaintiff didn’t do any due diligence and just sued you personally because you are the face of the company/point of contact; or (b) the plaintiff has an overly aggressive attorney who wants to sue everyone imaginable, even if there is no legal basis.

Here's what you need to know:

If they sued the wrong party, you can fight it. There are specific legal procedures to get yourself removed from a lawsuit when they should have sued your business instead.

The key is acting fast. Don't ignore it. It’s not going to magically go away. Timing matters. There are very specific deadlines for certain procedures in litigation. Wait too long and you might lose the right to fix it.

Getting sued personally doesn't automatically mean you're personally liable. But you need to act quickly to protect yourself.