Are some wealthy fraudsters judgment proof?

[GeorgeR3]

I am helping a friend. He installed an expensive kitchen in a man's house in 2014. The debtor. After installation debtor said he did not have the balance. The friend went to the Magistrates Court and got a judgment and a writ of attachment. A number of household items were attached. But someone claimed in an affidavit that they own the items.

The friend has paid for legal advice twice to get this far. But this is now becoming expensive, and he wonders what the chances of recovery are.

The debtor is known to my friend who says that he runs several businesses from the home which has been extensively renovated. The friend says that he gets government contracts and appears to own/drive 2 Mercedes.

The sheriff is issuing summons to the claimant to prove ownership. The claimant does not own the house but a deed search shows that someone with the same last name (not the debtor) does. Since 2001.

It appears the debtor wishes to be judgment proof and may have scammed others. Is it fraud to claim one owns a house and wants renovations knowing they will not pay? What can be done?

Can the house owner be sued for unjust enrichment?

Apparently the debtor can be asked for financial disclosure in court, and can eventually be sequestrated, but it seems he knows how to wriggle out of these actions.

Any help would be appreciated.

[HR Solutions]

Attaching other items is a problem as in this case - the assets suddenly become owned by someone else !
What is the amount owing ? Sequestration is not as easy as it sounds - The debtor has to have a certain amount of assets to his name to be able to be distributed.

[GeorgeR3]

Hi.

Thanks for your response.

The amount owing is about R37,000. The friend did not think it worth hiring a lawyer, hence the self-represented litigant approach (not easy). It is more the principle, to stop him and get him blacklisted, although we think he may fold at some point and pay up.

We have already approached Transunion to get the judgment listed. We are curious to see how far he is prepared to go, and how far the law allows us to go.

We will again consult with a lawyer, but it helps to know more about this sort of problem to know what questions to ask.

The man claiming to own the movable assets gave an address which is little more than a shack. We suspect he works for the debtor, and may be a relative of the property owner, and as such suspect perjury.

I have now started to research sequestration which appears to be the same as bankruptcy, and I see what you mean. I take it that a bankrupt/sequestrated person has a lot of legal difficulty running a company of any sort. The reason would be failure to failure to satisfy a judgment.

[Intothedeepbluesea]

When dodgy people and their accomplices know how the legal system works it can make them very slippery, it's crazy how easy it can be to impede the legal system.

But eventually these people do get their comeuppance or spend many of their waking hours wasting their time trying to keep out of reach of the long arm of the law.

Any updates on the op?