FLOWERS! I got FLOWERS!

OHYMYGAWSH! One of my clients came by yesterday with FLOWERS. Mom got all embarrassed and blushed a lot. Silly woman. They were for me, I know, but I'm sure he handed them to her so as not to hurt her feelings. They are everly so bee-yoo-ti-full, see?



He came into our office maybe six months ago with a small claims to serve in Murrieta. Mom took one look at it and mentioned that perhaps the defendant was sued under the wrong name? He asked us to validate the serve for him. Sure enough, it turned out that the name of the furniture store was really another corporation doing business as a that furniture store. We printed out the information and he took it back to the court and asked them to correct his claim.

After he amended his claim, we served the agent for service in San Diego. Before his court hearing even got close, the furniture store paid him ALL of his money, including his court fees and his service costs. If we'd done it the way he originally brought it in, the defendant's people probably wouldn't have showed up in court at all, and our client would have gotten a judgment against the non-existent entity and NEVER collected. Nope! NEVER!

What I've learned since I've been working here: Make sure you sue the defendant EXACTLY as you plan on collecting from them. The original claim or complaint is the foundation for everything that's to follow, including successful settlement or post-judgment collection. Sure, you can always try to get everything corrected after the fact, but that can get complicated and expensive, and you might even end up having to start all over again from the beginning.

I GOT FLOWERS! WOO HOO! How many working pups do you know that gets flowers? Hmmmmmmmm?????

Love,

Mary-Margaret
validate defendant, validate serve, validate service, service of process, defendant validation