Hi everybody, Im new to the forum so please be gentle ! I am a former employer from the state of california, But now live in Texas, I owned a small service business in Ca , I had one employee, that employee was killed while on duty in an auto accident in a company vehicle. my workmans comp insurance weasled out of responsibility, so the state of CA decided to sue me, in the process I had moved and never received notification of a hearing, in the mean time the state crime lab had concluded that the employee was under the influence of an illegal drug at the time of the accident wich was clearly the reason for the crash. they received a judgement by default. By way of ssn information have located me in texas and have sent me the court documents that were released back in 2003 stating that I have a judgement against me, I have not responded, and I dont know if there is anything I can do about it ? I cannot afford a lawyer, and Im thinking it might be too late for me to do anything any way ? finally my questions are ? does anybody know of anything I can do ? can you file bankruptcy against a state ? if I could afford a lawyer, is there anything he could do ? and now since they know where I am at ? they could probably attach my wages, and take what little money I have in the bank, since I live in another state ? will I be notified that they are working with my local courts to sieze my property ? or do I just go to the bank one day and my pay check I just deposited is gone ? Im really worried ! I do not own property, but I do have a car, and cant afford to lose any money out of my bank. please help ! I appreciate the help in advance, and Im sorry about the grammer.

[Valentino Rossi]

You need to get your $$ out of the bank Now! Only leave the overdraft protection you may have(they can't touch that) chances are that now they have found you and sent the paper work they may have already deposited a 'Presentment check' to your bank that has a 28 day window(altho that may vary from state to state) that on day 29 they will clean out the account and your bank will ding you for a $70+ 'service fee' for 'helping' to provide this service(and of course they won't tell you that this check is just sitting there ticking away). I have heard that you can cash checks at wal-mart for a small fee. And when you need to write checks only replenish the overdraft amount. Until you are able to secure some sort of legal counsel you need to get off the grid as much as possible.
Sounds like your former workman comp insurance company needs to be sued, as that sounds like a breach of contract issue especially if you had been paying the premiums. The state will/may sell the judgement to some third party debt attorney to chase you around. Just because they get a judgement doesn't mean they will move on it right away(but just to be safe clean out your bank) I would think that you could file some sort of appeal?

thank you ! didnt know they had a 28 day window ? I heard somewhere that continuing with the law suit in another state they would have to kind of have to start all over, and at that point I would have to be notified, that is wrong info ?
another problem I have at the moment is, I borrowed $5000.00 dollars from my brother, just got the check in the mail (to help with my bills) dont know where I can cash a check that size ? my bank wont cash it because I dont have enough in my account in case the check is insufficient, but I can deposit it, wait a couple days and then take it out, Im affraid in that couple days they could wipe me out, any suggestions ? thanks guys for all of your help...

[Valentino Rossi]

I wonder if you should check your local district court to see if there are any actions pending? But I know that there are scumbag collectors who chase summary judgements all over for a fee so the local court may not have anything in their records concerning this. Ask your bank if there is any time sensitive presentments sitting in your account. Who knows, maybe they would tell you?

what I did is cash the loan payment I received from my brother, at one of those check cashing places , cost me $200 crap ! now there is only 100.00 in my account, I will use money orders for a while, with the one hundred in the bank, I will be able to see if there is any activity, in the mean time I need to talk to a lawyer or something. thx guys for all your help thus far..