Garnishee orders and in duplum

[Richard S]

Hi Vanash,
Thanks for your valued and detailed input, it is much appreciated. But, seeing that the order was never served on me, surely it has no standing?

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Ask for the case number and papers from whence the order came. Do this in writing.
Where a court process, of any sort, occurs, then service is required. A judgement can be rescinded if you show service was flawed (every person must have the chance to defend themselves.)
Service on a business need not be served on the owner.

Your letter may want to indicate, that you have no knowledge, and you respect court process. Further, that the threat to execute is noted, but should be held in abeyance whilst you and they seek to resolve, and if they proceed then you will have no option but to oppose them with vigour, a waste of court time and costs.
Therefore kindly provide the case number so that you can peruse the court file, in the alternative they can facilitate the process by forwarding a copy of the court file.
If it's not genuine then you may see a scampering, and it would be worth persuing with the law society.

Of course, if it is genuine, then it may require some negotiating with attorneys and / or employee if the amount in arrears is large.

[Citizen X]

Ask for the case number and papers from whence the order came. Do this in writing.
Where a court process, of any sort, occurs, then service is required. A judgement can be rescinded if you show service was flawed (every person must have the chance to defend themselves.)
Service on a business need not be served on the owner.

Your letter may want to indicate, that you have no knowledge, and you respect court process. Further, that the threat to execute is noted, but should be held in abeyance whilst you and they seek to resolve, and if they proceed then you will have no option but to oppose them with vigour, a waste of court time and costs.
Therefore kindly provide the case number so that you can peruse the court file, in the alternative they can facilitate the process by forwarding a copy of the court file.
If it's not genuine then you may see a scampering, and it would be worth persuing with the law society.

Of course, if it is genuine, then it may require some negotiating with attorneys and / or employee if the amount in arrears is large.

This is what I mean by 'painting a bigger and better picture!"

[sterne.law@gmail.com]

Ironically the Saturday Independent had an article on garnishes orders.
In short an employer (an attorney) has employee. She took a loan with a Cape Town company, lives and works in Case Town.
The loan company, based in CT, uses an attorney in Nelspruit and surrounds, to do collections. They issue summons from the Gautend province, clearly to make it difficult for the debtor to defend.
There would be no basis for jurisdiction in Nelspruit. The company claims they rely on the attorney to be doing things properly etc, etc. Who looks for an attorney that's 1600km away?
The employer wrote to issuing attorneys and company. They dropped everything. Given that the amount was R25000, it is quite clear they know they are horribly wrong, acting intentionally and want this to go away. No doubt they will continue.

[Richard S]

Good morning to you both, your input was enlightening, to say the least.

In this instance the case is legit, everything done in Cape Town and in an email from the employee to the firm of attorneys she has acknowledged that she owes the money. All the relevant correspondence was emailed to me late on Friday afternoon.

I am surprised to discover that I - or my business - is the garnishee, the sheriff needs no proof that the order was served, and that this could occur without my knowledge. And that I only found out about it four months later.

Despite the fact that the court order is addressed to the wrong firm(a business next door) and that the order states that the sheriff served the attachment order on me personally( named in the Court Order ) which is absolute BS, I will probably comply with it. It would simply be a waste of everybody's time and money to fight it on technicalities which can be corrected and the whole process would in any case repeat itself.

But I thank you for your input.

[Dave A]

She took a loan with a Cape Town company, lives and works in Case Town.
The loan company, based in CT, uses an attorney in Nelspruit and surrounds, to do collections. They issue summons from the Gautend province, clearly to make it difficult for the debtor to defend.
There would be no basis for jurisdiction in Nelspruit.

Wouldn't be surprised if it's the same crowd I was referring to in my OP. Quite a shrewd way to build a practice in a small town. Small town lawyers around the country should be licking their lips.

The employer wrote to issuing attorneys and company. They dropped everything.

Now that's a letter that would be handy to attach to this thread - minus any personal information that might embarrass anyone, of course.

I have to say I considered raising the jurisdiction issue - but ultimately raising it seemed to be merely delaying the inevitable - and adding costs.
Of course, if jurisdiction is being deliberately abused by the creditor and can be opposed without significant cost to the debtor, it does become very tempting to pursue it anyway - if for nothing else but to put a halt to this dubious practice.