I am not a lawyer, I am a Judgment Broker. This article is my opinion, and not legal advice, based on my experience in California, and laws vary in each state. If you ever need any legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.
Why start a civil lawsuit unless there will be a chance to collect your judgment? The process to sue someone that owes you money, and then trying to recover judgment money owed you, is usually not easy or cheap. You should maximize your chances for recovery of your judgment, by taking care to name your debtor(s) correctly before you sue them.
When you start a lawsuit, it is really important to name your defendants property, so your judgment will "attach" to actual people or valid entities. If you sue someone with the wrong, or a misspelled name, it opens up a possible defense for the debtor to use, to avoid paying the money that is due for the judgment.
When your debtor is a corporate entity, it is very important to name them accurately. Before suing them, check your Secretary of State's (SOS) website, to see precisely how the corporate entity name is spelled. Make sure to check the punctuation carefully, because even a missing comma can make it harder to recover a judgment.
Here are some examples of possible variations in company naming: Cheatum Corporation, Cheatum Company Inc., Cheatum Company, Inc., The Cheatum Corp, Cheatum, LLC, Cheatum Group, LLC, Cheatum LLC, Cheatum Company, Cheatum Corp. If you do not list the company name correctly, you might be left with a judgment that is difficult or impossible to collect.
If an entity is not found on the SOS's web site, maybe they are operating the business as a fictitious DBA name, and perhaps you could sue the people responsible instead. Also, companies can fold or change names overnight, so if a person associated with a company defrauded you, consider suing them, in addition to suing the company.
What if you already have a judgment that does not correctly name the actual person or entity that owes you money? Depending on which state and court, you could file an affidavit of identity, or a motion to amend the judgment. To do this, you need to either hire a lawyer, or learn the rules of your court, and find examples and information about how to form, serve, file, and usually pay the court; to amend or make corrections to a judgment, to reflect the actual parties that owe money.
Some jurisdictions put a time limit on making any type of amendments or corrections to a judgment. Some courts also have some specific reasons or requirements to be met, before they will accept an amendment. Look into the rules of procedure for your court to find out what methods can be used to correct judgment naming problems.
You can also check with your local law library, and find resources about this subject, to help you make a motion for the court. Ask your court what their procedures are, to amend a judgment, however remember they cannot give you legal advice. Stick to questions about the procedures specific to their court.
If you cannot amend the judgment, you may have the option of suing again, and then carefully naming the actual entity that owes you money.
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