New Guide to Money Judgment Collection/Defense

I excitedly tore into a small box this morning containing the first printing of my new book, Eyes on the Prize: Procedures and Strategies for Collecting Money Judgments and Shielding Assets (Carolina Academic Press 2019). Since the advent of the Bankruptcy Code in 1979, the study of how one collects a money judgment (or arbitral award) in law schools has become as rare as an involuntary bankruptcy petition against an individual debtor. But my students (and local lawyers) clamored for treatment of the topic for years, so I decided to do what I could to revive the subject. I was surprised at the diversity of approaches I found among the states (whose enforcement law applies to federal judgments, too, as described in the book), but I think I fairly survey the key variants by concentrating on a detailed exposition of the laws in New York, California, and Illinois, with a smattering of other salient state laws thrown in here and there (Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Iowa, etc.). In the past, I've used my state's statutes and a series of hypothetical practice problems (both of which included in this book) for years in my Civil Procedure classes, and the students have voraciously devoured that material. More detailed comparative knowledge has also sharpened my appreciation for how the battle between judicial lienholders and secured creditors works. I tried to offer soup-to-nuts coverage here, from discovery to asset protection to bankruptcy, so I think a lot of readers will find something useful, especially new practitioners who likely learned none of this in law school. A bit more of a preview than appears in the "Look inside" link on CAP's website is available for free download on SSRN, as well. Check it out--and let me know what you think!

Comments

[John Rogers]

Jason, is your book in paper form currently available to order ?

[Jason Kilborn]

Hi, John! Since I received the paper books in the mail this morning, I assume you can order direct from CAP right away (though I don't think they have a facility to take orders online, only via email, fax, or phone). I assume they'll be on Amazon, etc., in short order, too.

[Jason Kilborn]

It looks like CAP does have online (cart-style) ordering, but my book doesn't have those buttons yet. I would expect to see them early next week.

[Ed Boltz]

Since the publisher is only 3 miles from my office in Durham, do you think I can just stop in and pick up a copy?

Also, with it being published by Carolina Academic Press, does it have anything much about North Carolina debt collection? Since we have don't have wage garnishment but do have fairly robust debt collection and debt buyer statutes, creditors constantly complain about the lack of viable collection mechanisms.

[Jason Kilborn]

Hi, Ed! Funny you should ask, since one of the primary sources that started me on this project was a looseleaf service by a NC lawyer/judge with a decent description of NC collection law in the back. I did not include much (if any) specific discussion of NC law, alas, as NC law seems fairly similar to NY and/or TX law in most respects, including the ban on wage garnishment (at least for some purposes). Part of the fun is encouraging people to compare their states' laws with the "models" (or perhaps better, paradigms) I have included. Maybe a nice basis for an ABI Journal column or a CLE?

[patrick]

can we access the book via search engines

[Jason Kilborn]

Patrick, other than the excerpt I posted on SSRN, the book is not freely available via Google, etc., but you can buy a full electronic version from CAP on the book's site linked above. Cheers!