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Jun. 11th, 2008 06:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
which_chickWell, I'm back from my Big Day at Court.
The thing that looks like a courthouse in Manassas is not a courthouse. The "courthouse" is actually the Judicial Center down the street from the courthouse, which is now not-a-courthouse. I had to ask people inside the Judicial Center if it was the courthouse or not. (It is, sorta.) The Judicial Center has metal detectors and makes you empty your pockets into one of those dishes like at the airport. One more reason I don't have any fucking interest in living in the city... Christ, our court doesn't have fucking metal detectors.
Anyway, following the cattle call of Small Claims Court procedures, I am now the proud owner of a judgment against one Thomas Chillemi in the amount of $4575.16 (with interest at 7% accruing from April 15, 2008). While I was rather hoping for a Phoenix Wright cross-examination opportunity, Mr. Thomas Chillemi of 9213 Cascade Falls Drive, Bristow, VA did not deign to make an appearance even though he was duly and properly served notice of process.
On the bright side, since process was served (Thank you, Sheriff of Prince William County, VA! You are well worth your fee!), I was still able to secure a judgment against Mr. Thomas Chillemi despite the fact that he didn't bother to show up for the Big Day In Court. (A huge number of the defendants in the small claims court cases didn't appear. Some of them hadn't been appropriately served, notably corporations and LLCs and stuff. Lender beware: service of process on corporations is a bitch. Only loan money with real people.)
Basically, I didn't even get to any of the interesting details of how Mr. Chillemi has FAILED TO PAY ME during the hearing, which took all of two minutes. Here follows a reasonable facsimile of my Big Day in Court:
"Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, blah blah?"
"I do."
"Okay. This matter is about a loan that is not being repaid, is that correct?"
"Yes. I have a note."
"Good, let me see it... This is the original?"
"Yes."
"It says here that the interest rate is 7% APY?"
"Yes."
"Has he paid anything on it since you filed?"
"No."
"And how much does he still owe on it?"
"$4575.16 with interest accruing from April 15, 2008."
"This all seems in order. I'm granting you a judgment in that amount with interest to continue until paid in full."
It was sort of a let-down. I mean, yeah, winning was nice but I'd prepared all my documents in order by date and had copies of all my nasty dunning letters and the certified mail cards for them and *everything*. I was all ready to testify. I didn't get to do any satisfactory testifying.
Here's the testifying I did not get to do:
On July 13, 2006, Mr. Thomas Chillemi signed a promissory note for the amount of ten thousand dollars which he borrowed from me. He was to repay me via a straight line amortization at 7% over two years, for twenty-four equal payments of $447.73, each one due postmarked on or before the fifteenth of the month. The first payment was due August 15, 2006.
Mr. Chillemi's payment record, never particularly good, degraded as time progressed. Payment for Dec. 06 was received 1-19-07. Payment for Feb. 07 was received 3-8-07. According to Mr. Chillemi, the reason for the late payments was that I had only provided him with a PO Box and that the "Post Office wasn't delivering the envelopes containing the payments." I inquired whether or not he had received those envelopes back as returned and unable to be delivered, but he did not respond to that and, instead, asked if I was calling him a liar.
I sent out a dunning letter May 3 of 2007 and provided Mr. Chillemi with a street address manned by a live human being during business hours so that he could mail letters and have them be signed for when they arrived. Mr. Chillemi assured me that this would totally, 100% solve the not-getting-of-payments that I was experiencing with his account. Payment for April 07 was received 5-9-07, shortly after the dunning letter. I mailed a dunning letter July 2, 2007 for the June 07 payment because I had not received it by that time. Payment for June 07 was received 7-27-07. Payment for August 07 was received 8-30-07. Payment for Sept. 07 was received November 19, 2007. To date, I have not received any further payments from Mr. Chillemi since the November, 2007 payment.
I sent Mr. Thomas Chillemi a dunning letter on 2-28-08 which dropped like a pebble into a bottomless pit of despair. Nothing issued forth from Mr. Chillemi following that dunning letter, not an email, not a phone call, not a written response, and most assuredly not a check.
In desperation, I called Mr. Chillemi on the phone in late March. I begged him to send me some payment, any payment at all, no matter how small, just something to show that he was making an effort. Mr. Chillemi said that he would pay me in late April, for real. I repeated how I needed some money, even a small token payment, REAL SOON NOW. It was like we were having two different conversations and I reiterated that he needed to make EVEN A SMALL PAYMENT RIGHT NOW TO SHOW GOOD FAITH.
There being no payment, even a token one, I sent Mr. Chillemi a demand note on April 14, 2008 telling him that he'd paid not even the interest in thirty days, that as a result he was in default, and that the sum total of the note was due and payable in full within thirty days. (This course of action was provided for in the note itself, which is why I pursued it.) Because I rather figured that Mr. Chillemi was not going to be paying me the full amount of the note at any time in the next thirty days, on April 15, 2008, I filed against Mr. Thomas Chillemi in Small Claims Court in Prince William County, Virginia. At that time, I figured that if, against all expectations, he actually paid what he owed in the interval between me filing and the actual hearing, we could dismiss the matter because the amount had been paid.
Interestingly, Mr. Chillemi emailed me very promptly once he had notice of proceedings against him. He'd been so uncommunicative previously that I rather thought he'd lost all of my contact information but apparently he'd just not wanted to speak with me until I filed on him in court. The gist of his email was that he wanted to "work things out" and felt that me begging him for even a token payment on the phone constituted a whole new agreement of repayment that superceded the existing one in writing that he signed.
I responded in writing to Mr. Chillemi's email, saying that I would be happy to drop the suit, rescind the demand notice, and continue on as before if, at any time before the hearing, he brought his account to a current and fully paid-up state. Mr. Chillemi did not deign to respond to my offer of settlement. He has also not paid any further monies on the debt that he owes me, the debt that he signed his good name to, the debt that he was very eager to borrow and that he has been very reluctant to repay.
Therefore, since Mr. Thomas Chillemi has dishonored the note that he set his name to and has resisted all civilian efforts to secure repayment, I am seeking a judgment against him in this court.
I would have said more, if I'd been given the opportunity to cross-examine or anything, but since he didn't show up, all I got to do was win. (I am not complaining, exactly... just... it wasn't very satisfying.)
Mr. Thomas Chillemi of 9213 Cascade Falls Drive, Bristow, VA, who BORROWED MONEY FROM ME AND NOW IS FAILING TO PAY IT BACK, has ten calendar days to appeal this judgment. If he does nothing, then at the end of the ten calendar days, I can proceed to do things to collect my money.
The handout (In Prince William County Small Claims Court, you get a handout when you win a judgment. I am treasuring it as it may be the only thing I ever get from securing a judgment against Mr. Chillemi for the money he borrowed and is not paying back.) says that the winner is supposed to attempt to make payment arrangements outside of Court with the opposing party for payment of the judgment. I'm going to wait ten days before I do anything, but then I guess I'll have to send Mr. Thomas Chillemi some sort of deal for repaying his debt with smaller payments and a longer time frame to see if I can get any fucking money at all out of him. It shows good faith and stuff.
If the other party does not make payment or does not have any interest in making payment, then the holder of the judgment must Take Steps to attempt to collect.
Option 1: Docketing your judgment in Circuit Court. Apparently your judgment is good for 10 years but you can get an extra 10 years by docketing the judgment in Circuit Court. How to do this? After the ten day appeal period has passed, you get a ABSTRACT OF JUDGMENT from the General District Civil Clerk's Office and you take it to the Land Records Division in the Circuit Court. (Hopefully this can be done by mail. I'll have to call and ask.) There's a phone number for costs and forms and procedures.
Option 2: Garnishment. Garnishment is where you take the wages and bank accounts and stuff of the guy who owes you money. You also have to show up in court for this and it costs almost a hundred bucks to file. Also, you need to know where the opposing party works and banks within the state.
Option 3: Interrogatory Summons. This is where you make the opposing party come into court and answer a bunch of questions about where he or she works, banks, and invests. You can ask lots of stuff about their assets, income, liabilities, and property. You can also make the opposing party hand over his or her social security number in an Interrogatory Summons. You have to show up in court for this one, too, and probably it's a good idea to do this one BEFORE you go garnishing stuff so that you know what all can be garnished.
Option 4: Levy. This is where you get the Sheriff to go list all the stuff that is allowed to be sold and then the Sheriff sells the stuff and you get the profits (if any) to cover the money owed to you. It's expensive and probably not going to generate enough money for anything. Most people's personal property isn't worth shit.
We shall see. If nothing else, the whole mess has been pretty educational.
The thing that looks like a courthouse in Manassas is not a courthouse. The "courthouse" is actually the Judicial Center down the street from the courthouse, which is now not-a-courthouse. I had to ask people inside the Judicial Center if it was the courthouse or not. (It is, sorta.) The Judicial Center has metal detectors and makes you empty your pockets into one of those dishes like at the airport. One more reason I don't have any fucking interest in living in the city... Christ, our court doesn't have fucking metal detectors.
Anyway, following the cattle call of Small Claims Court procedures, I am now the proud owner of a judgment against one Thomas Chillemi in the amount of $4575.16 (with interest at 7% accruing from April 15, 2008). While I was rather hoping for a Phoenix Wright cross-examination opportunity, Mr. Thomas Chillemi of 9213 Cascade Falls Drive, Bristow, VA did not deign to make an appearance even though he was duly and properly served notice of process.
On the bright side, since process was served (Thank you, Sheriff of Prince William County, VA! You are well worth your fee!), I was still able to secure a judgment against Mr. Thomas Chillemi despite the fact that he didn't bother to show up for the Big Day In Court. (A huge number of the defendants in the small claims court cases didn't appear. Some of them hadn't been appropriately served, notably corporations and LLCs and stuff. Lender beware: service of process on corporations is a bitch. Only loan money with real people.)
Basically, I didn't even get to any of the interesting details of how Mr. Chillemi has FAILED TO PAY ME during the hearing, which took all of two minutes. Here follows a reasonable facsimile of my Big Day in Court:
"Do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, blah blah?"
"I do."
"Okay. This matter is about a loan that is not being repaid, is that correct?"
"Yes. I have a note."
"Good, let me see it... This is the original?"
"Yes."
"It says here that the interest rate is 7% APY?"
"Yes."
"Has he paid anything on it since you filed?"
"No."
"And how much does he still owe on it?"
"$4575.16 with interest accruing from April 15, 2008."
"This all seems in order. I'm granting you a judgment in that amount with interest to continue until paid in full."
It was sort of a let-down. I mean, yeah, winning was nice but I'd prepared all my documents in order by date and had copies of all my nasty dunning letters and the certified mail cards for them and *everything*. I was all ready to testify. I didn't get to do any satisfactory testifying.
Here's the testifying I did not get to do:
On July 13, 2006, Mr. Thomas Chillemi signed a promissory note for the amount of ten thousand dollars which he borrowed from me. He was to repay me via a straight line amortization at 7% over two years, for twenty-four equal payments of $447.73, each one due postmarked on or before the fifteenth of the month. The first payment was due August 15, 2006.
Mr. Chillemi's payment record, never particularly good, degraded as time progressed. Payment for Dec. 06 was received 1-19-07. Payment for Feb. 07 was received 3-8-07. According to Mr. Chillemi, the reason for the late payments was that I had only provided him with a PO Box and that the "Post Office wasn't delivering the envelopes containing the payments." I inquired whether or not he had received those envelopes back as returned and unable to be delivered, but he did not respond to that and, instead, asked if I was calling him a liar.
I sent out a dunning letter May 3 of 2007 and provided Mr. Chillemi with a street address manned by a live human being during business hours so that he could mail letters and have them be signed for when they arrived. Mr. Chillemi assured me that this would totally, 100% solve the not-getting-of-payments that I was experiencing with his account. Payment for April 07 was received 5-9-07, shortly after the dunning letter. I mailed a dunning letter July 2, 2007 for the June 07 payment because I had not received it by that time. Payment for June 07 was received 7-27-07. Payment for August 07 was received 8-30-07. Payment for Sept. 07 was received November 19, 2007. To date, I have not received any further payments from Mr. Chillemi since the November, 2007 payment.
I sent Mr. Thomas Chillemi a dunning letter on 2-28-08 which dropped like a pebble into a bottomless pit of despair. Nothing issued forth from Mr. Chillemi following that dunning letter, not an email, not a phone call, not a written response, and most assuredly not a check.
In desperation, I called Mr. Chillemi on the phone in late March. I begged him to send me some payment, any payment at all, no matter how small, just something to show that he was making an effort. Mr. Chillemi said that he would pay me in late April, for real. I repeated how I needed some money, even a small token payment, REAL SOON NOW. It was like we were having two different conversations and I reiterated that he needed to make EVEN A SMALL PAYMENT RIGHT NOW TO SHOW GOOD FAITH.
There being no payment, even a token one, I sent Mr. Chillemi a demand note on April 14, 2008 telling him that he'd paid not even the interest in thirty days, that as a result he was in default, and that the sum total of the note was due and payable in full within thirty days. (This course of action was provided for in the note itself, which is why I pursued it.) Because I rather figured that Mr. Chillemi was not going to be paying me the full amount of the note at any time in the next thirty days, on April 15, 2008, I filed against Mr. Thomas Chillemi in Small Claims Court in Prince William County, Virginia. At that time, I figured that if, against all expectations, he actually paid what he owed in the interval between me filing and the actual hearing, we could dismiss the matter because the amount had been paid.
Interestingly, Mr. Chillemi emailed me very promptly once he had notice of proceedings against him. He'd been so uncommunicative previously that I rather thought he'd lost all of my contact information but apparently he'd just not wanted to speak with me until I filed on him in court. The gist of his email was that he wanted to "work things out" and felt that me begging him for even a token payment on the phone constituted a whole new agreement of repayment that superceded the existing one in writing that he signed.
I responded in writing to Mr. Chillemi's email, saying that I would be happy to drop the suit, rescind the demand notice, and continue on as before if, at any time before the hearing, he brought his account to a current and fully paid-up state. Mr. Chillemi did not deign to respond to my offer of settlement. He has also not paid any further monies on the debt that he owes me, the debt that he signed his good name to, the debt that he was very eager to borrow and that he has been very reluctant to repay.
Therefore, since Mr. Thomas Chillemi has dishonored the note that he set his name to and has resisted all civilian efforts to secure repayment, I am seeking a judgment against him in this court.
I would have said more, if I'd been given the opportunity to cross-examine or anything, but since he didn't show up, all I got to do was win. (I am not complaining, exactly... just... it wasn't very satisfying.)
Mr. Thomas Chillemi of 9213 Cascade Falls Drive, Bristow, VA, who BORROWED MONEY FROM ME AND NOW IS FAILING TO PAY IT BACK, has ten calendar days to appeal this judgment. If he does nothing, then at the end of the ten calendar days, I can proceed to do things to collect my money.
The handout (In Prince William County Small Claims Court, you get a handout when you win a judgment. I am treasuring it as it may be the only thing I ever get from securing a judgment against Mr. Chillemi for the money he borrowed and is not paying back.) says that the winner is supposed to attempt to make payment arrangements outside of Court with the opposing party for payment of the judgment. I'm going to wait ten days before I do anything, but then I guess I'll have to send Mr. Thomas Chillemi some sort of deal for repaying his debt with smaller payments and a longer time frame to see if I can get any fucking money at all out of him. It shows good faith and stuff.
If the other party does not make payment or does not have any interest in making payment, then the holder of the judgment must Take Steps to attempt to collect.
Option 1: Docketing your judgment in Circuit Court. Apparently your judgment is good for 10 years but you can get an extra 10 years by docketing the judgment in Circuit Court. How to do this? After the ten day appeal period has passed, you get a ABSTRACT OF JUDGMENT from the General District Civil Clerk's Office and you take it to the Land Records Division in the Circuit Court. (Hopefully this can be done by mail. I'll have to call and ask.) There's a phone number for costs and forms and procedures.
Option 2: Garnishment. Garnishment is where you take the wages and bank accounts and stuff of the guy who owes you money. You also have to show up in court for this and it costs almost a hundred bucks to file. Also, you need to know where the opposing party works and banks within the state.
Option 3: Interrogatory Summons. This is where you make the opposing party come into court and answer a bunch of questions about where he or she works, banks, and invests. You can ask lots of stuff about their assets, income, liabilities, and property. You can also make the opposing party hand over his or her social security number in an Interrogatory Summons. You have to show up in court for this one, too, and probably it's a good idea to do this one BEFORE you go garnishing stuff so that you know what all can be garnished.
Option 4: Levy. This is where you get the Sheriff to go list all the stuff that is allowed to be sold and then the Sheriff sells the stuff and you get the profits (if any) to cover the money owed to you. It's expensive and probably not going to generate enough money for anything. Most people's personal property isn't worth shit.
We shall see. If nothing else, the whole mess has been pretty educational.
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no subject
Date: 2008-06-11 11:19 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-06-11 11:31 pm (UTC).....WAIT JUST A MINUTE! I checked, and whew, I'm not a total moron. Well, I'm a moron for assuming that you'd only drive to a state bordering your own, but I'll claim that's the western bias in me. It's hard to remember that all those little states back there are small enough to zip right across. But at least I was right in thinking there was something between PA and VA.
Not that I could have named what that something actually was without peeking, but whatever.
no subject
Date: 2008-06-11 11:59 pm (UTC)I live outside of Breezewood, PA (Google it -- it's a major intersection even though nobody much lives there). To get to Manassas, I took I-70 to Frederick, MD where I picked up I-270 and followed it down to 495 (bear right, to the west/south). I exited 495 at I-66 and followed that to Sudley (234) to Manassas.
It wasn't a bad drive, most of it. I hate driving the DC Beltway because they all drive like loonies. People driving I-270 are also pushy and in a hurry. The big empty sections of I-70, though, are old friends and I find them very relaxing.