How to handle small claims from another state

David Simmons

New Member
Jurisdiction
California
I am in Iowa and I sued a corporation in California and won the default judgement. I am curious what I need to do in order to collect on that judgement in California or maybe what are the most effective ways? I was reading that I need to

"Before filing the forms to turn an out of state judgment into a California judgment, you must get an authenticated copy of the sister-state judgment.

• This can be obtained at the court that issued the judgment.

Application for Entry of Judgment on Sister-State Judgment (Form EJ-105)
• This is the application needed to have your out of state judgment become

registered in California.
Notice of Entry of Judgment on Sister-State Judgment (Form EJ-110)

• This is used to notify the debtor that you have applied to have a judgment enforced in California."

but im not sure if that's correct or not. Any help is appreciated and would mean a lot thank you.
 
Did you come to California and sue the entity? That's what your post said...that you "... sued a corporation in California...".

Or, did you sue a California corporation in Iowa small claims court?
 
Did you come to California and sue the entity? That's what your post said...that you "... sued a corporation in California...".

Or, did you sue a California corporation in Iowa small claims court?

I apologize for being unclear I meant to state "I sued a California corporation in Iowa small claims"
 
I apologize for being unclear I meant to state "I sued a California corporation in Iowa small claims"
On what basis did the Iowa court assert jurisdiction over the defendant (both personal and territorial)?
 
I am in Iowa and I sued a corporation in California and won the default judgement. I am curious what I need to do in order to collect on that judgement in California or maybe what are the most effective ways?

Once you domesticate your Iowa judgment in California, the laws on enforcing judgments are found in Title 9 of Part 2 of the Code of Civil Procedure. The most effective way of enforcing any given judgment is fact-specific, but the most common way of enforcing a judgment against a corporation are bank levies and garnishment of receivables. In order to do either of those things, you will need to have the court issue a writ of execution (ch. 3 of Div. 2 of Title 9). Then review "Methods of Levy" in art. 4 of ch. 3.

Before filing the forms to turn an out of state judgment into a California judgment, you must get an authenticated copy of the sister-state judgment.

That's correct.

Application for Entry of Judgment on Sister-State Judgment (Form EJ-105)
• This is the application needed to have your out of state judgment become

registered in California.
Notice of Entry of Judgment on Sister-State Judgment (Form EJ-110)

• This is used to notify the debtor that you have applied to have a judgment enforced in California."

but im not sure if that's correct or not.

It is. The law on domesticating a sister-state judgment is found in chapter 1 of Title 11 of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure. Fortunately for you, this is one of those things that can be done using pre-printed forms, which you can obtain here.

On what basis did the Iowa court assert jurisdiction over the defendant (both personal and territorial)?

"Personal jurisdiction" is a thing. "Territorial jurisdiction" is not. What do you mean by that?
 
"Personal jurisdiction" is a thing. "Territorial jurisdiction" is not. What do you mean by that?

Territorial jurisdiction

Territorial jurisdiction

Territorial jurisdiction is the court's power to bind the parties to the action. This law determines the scope of federal and state court power. State court territorial jurisdiction is determined by the Due Process Clause of the Constitution's Fourteenth Amendment and the federal court territorial jurisdiction is determined by the Due Process Clause of the Constitution's Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, Rule 4 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (and its amendments) clarifies how the question of territorial jurisdiction should be answered in Federal Court. Case law decisions relevant to questions of territorial jurisdiction include Ahrens v. Clark, 335 U.S. 188, EEOC v. Arabian American Oil Co., 499 U.S. 244, 248 (1991), and Rasul v. Bush, 542 U.S. 466 (2004).
 
I believe that I may be using the term "territorial jurisdiction" incorrectly. I am trying to ask if the state's long-arm statute was applied by the court, and that would address personal jurisdiction, not territorial jurisdiction.
 
Territorial jurisdiction

I have literally never heard this term before. There are two types of jurisdiction (which all law students learn about and which give some students nightmares): subject matter jurisdiction and and personal jurisdiction. The definition at the Cornell site sounds like it is defining "territorial jurisdiction" to mean roughly the same thing as personal jurisdiction.

Subject matter jurisdiction refers to a court's power to adjudicate particular types of disputes. For example, federal courts have limited subject matter jurisdiction. They have no power to adjudicate a dispute between to citizens of State X in a car accident case or to adjudicate divorces. However, federal courts have exclusive (subject matter) jurisdiction to hear cases for copyright and patent infringement.

Personal jurisdiction refers to a court's power to hear a dispute involving a particular defendant. Personal jurisdiction has two elements: notice and basis. The notice element is pretty self-explanatory. The basis element relates to the reason for requiring a given person to appear before a particular court. For example, a court in State X has personal jurisdiction over citizens of State X or any person who files a lawsuit in State X. However, a court in State X lacks personal jurisdiction over a Citizen of State Y who has no contacts with State X. For example, a citizen of State X who visits State Y and gets into a car accident with a citizen of State Y could not successfully sue in State X unless the State Y citizen happens to have systematic and pervasive contacts with State X. On the other hand, if the accident happened in State X while the State Y citizen was visiting State X, then the State X court would have personal jurisdiction over the State Y citizen.

In the OP's case, since there was a default judgment entered, the court likely had no reason to assume personal jurisdiction was an issue. If the defendant/judgment debtor believes the Iowa court lacked personal jurisdiction, it can raise that issue by way of a motion to vacate the sister- state judgment. CCP 1710.40.
 
Small claims courts have very specific rules about subject matter and personal jurisdiction. They are a subset of the broader constitutional limits. Many explicitly define those limits , such as the possibility that you may need to sue the defendant in the county of the defendant.

The document linked above is about collecting judgments in civil court. It doesn't directly agress the rules of the specific California county small claims court used. The general rules of the California Small Claims Court is a good place to start but it doesn't point me specifically to local courts. As you can see from this Superior Court Small Claims Packet, it describes how to ascertain venue but doesn't pinpoint what I said and is telling you to find the rules of that specific county court. It's frustrating. But they do give you the ability to ask questions about California small claims court venue here.

I did find Form SC-100 Plaintiff's Claim and Order to Go to Small Claims Court and then links to the California venue table for small claims court from their own recommended advisors which leads to a dead link. This is very disheartening, considering that everything was so nicely laid out years ago in a printed handbook and which has now become challenging to find.

For example, jurisdition and venue of the Small Claims Court in New York City is explained clearly.

Where to Sue: Venue
A claimant must begin the lawsuit in the proper county. In general, a claimant can sue in the county where either party resides. If no party resides within the City, the action can be brought in the county where either party has employment or a business address. If the defendant does not have a residence, employment, or have a business address within the City of New York, you cannot bring the lawsuit in the Small Claims Court. To find the location in your county, click on Location.
 
Filing for bankruptcy is an extreme move, however, it is the only legal way for the defendant to erase the debt and avoid paying the plaintiff holding the judgement.

It is estimated that bankruptcy is used successfully in approximately 40% of all cases.

Some sources estimate that under 20% of judgment holders ever see a dollar from their judgment.

Some websites even offer tutorials in NOT paying the debt.

How To Not Pay A Judgement - House of Debt

Holding a judgment ends up being more frustrating than receiving one from a small claims court.
 
It's worth pointing out that the OP has a judgment entered by an Iowa court and wants to domesticate that judgment in California. That being the case, the jurisdiction and venue rules for California small claims court aren't of any relevance to this thread, and the only jurisdictional issue that might be relevant is if the defendant/debtor claims that it wasn't subject to personal jurisdiction in Iowa.

Nonetheless...

The general rules of the California Small Claims Court is a good place to start but it doesn't point me specifically to local courts.

This link is to the website for the Orange County Superior Court. I'm not sure what you mean by it not pointing specifically to local courts. If you're concerned about which branch of the Orange County Superior Court to file in, there's a local rule that breaks it down by zip code or city (can't remember which), but it's not a terribly important rule.

As you can see from this Superior Court Small Claims Packet, it describes how to ascertain venue but doesn't pinpoint what I said and is telling you to find the rules of that specific county court. It's frustrating. But they do give you the ability to ask questions about California small claims court venue here.

The second link is to the California Judicial Council's website, which has a bunch of good self-help info. I'm not aware of any link where you can submit questions. However, the basic venue rule (applicable to all California civil lawsuits -- there is no specific rule for small claims) is in Code of Civil Procedure section 395, and the default rule is to sue in the defendant's (or any defendant's) county of residence or county where the/a defendant's principal place of business is located. Other venues may be appropriate, but the county of residence/PPOB will always be a proper venue.

By the way, the basic personal jurisdiction rule for California small claims courts is found in CCP 116.340, which is actually a rule about service of small claims papers. Essentially, California small claims courts only have jurisdictions over California residents, except for a small handful of exceptions, the most notable of which is if the case arises out of an auto accident that occurred in CA.
 
Yep, I replied to one of the posts without full context as I was already working on a matter involving small claims court and was curious and shared my experience here.

Thanks for the additional information about the CA courts - I may have posted the wrong link which covered all California state courts. Finding the rules of or guide to small claims court should not be that much work and should be spelled out clearly for laypersons and very easily found. What you've shared about determining venue , subject matter and personal jurisdiction should have been easy. I didn't have the time to continue to perform further research so many thanks for sharing.

I was involved in a case many, many, many years ago for enforcement of judgment in a sister state and used a similar form. Essentially we had to sue on the default judgment in the sister state and I believe we filed in New York Civil Court. I don't think Small Claims Court has jurisdiction and we also intended to sue for attorneys fees, which brought us to or slightly over the limit. The defendant filed an order to show cause after they defaulted on our original filing and we ultimately prevailed. They were furious because the attorneys fees were at least as much or greater than the amount sought. We had an argument prepared about the firm needing to act as attorney generals to curb abusive practices in the consumer marketplace. It also helps when the judge doesn't care for the defendant and their shady business practices.
 
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