The Four Top Reasons Why “Slam Dunk” Judgments are not collected!

WEALTHY JUDGMENT DEBTORS

L When the judgment debtor is rich, and the judgment has no defects (e.g., naming the judgment debtor(s) incorrectly, or a questionable proof of service), that is known as a "slam dunk" judgment. Slam dunk judgments are not always recovered, the top four reasons why:

1. The judgment debtor has hidden their assets, or has taken advantage of laws to shield their assets. The classic example is a fraud who swindled someone out of their money, and then invested or converted their victim's money in their big, exemption-protected home in California.

2. The judgment debtor might choose to spend $100,000 on lawyers to fight a judgment recovery effort, rather than spend $20K to pay off or settle a judgment.

3. The judgment debtor might hide most of their assets, and then file for bankruptcy protection, just to thwart all creditors.

4. The judgment owner might be too over-optimistic and stubborn, with a false belief about how easy their judgment's recovery appears to be. Even when judgments are "slam dunks", it costs money to recover them, and results are not guaranteed. If a judgment owner is not willing to share a significant part of what might get recovered on a contingency basis; or is unwilling to sell their judgment at a steep discount, their judgment may never be recovered.