TENTATIVE RULING

Plaintiff Palisades Circle Homeowners Association’s Motion for Assignment Order is GRANTED. The rights to rental payment from tenants of Defendant Lois Anderson for rental of property at 17238 Palisades Circle in Pacific Palisades, California 90272 are hereby assigned to Plaintiff Palisades Circle Homeowners Association until such time the judgment of the present action has been fully satisfied.

Plaintiff Palisades Circle Homeowners Association to give notice. 

REASONING

Code of Civil Procedure section 708.510, subdivision (a)(4), states, in part:

Except as otherwise provided by law, upon application of the judgment creditor on noticed motion, the court may order the judgment debtor to assign to the judgment creditor or to a receiver appointed pursuant to Article 7 (commencing with Section 708.610) all or part of a right to payment due or to become due, whether or not the right is conditioned on future developments, including but not limited to . . . [r]oyalties.

Code of Civil Procedure section 708.510, subdivision (c), further provides:

. . . [I]n determining whether to order an assignment or the amount of an assignment pursuant to subdivision (a), the court may take into consideration all relevant factors, including the following:

(1) The reasonable requirements of a judgment debtor who is a natural person and of persons supported in whole or in part by the judgment debtor.

(2) Payments the judgment debtor is required to make or that are deducted in satisfaction of other judgments and wage assignments, including earnings assignment orders for support.

(3) The amount remaining due on the money judgment.

(4) The amount being or to be received in satisfaction of the right to payment that may be assigned.

The judgment creditor may also apply “for an order restraining the judgment debtor from assigning or otherwise disposing of the right to payment that is sought to be assigned.” (Code Civ. Proc., § 708.520, subd. (a).) In its discretion, the Court may require the judgment creditor to provide an undertaking. (Code Civ. Proc., § 708.520, subd. (b).) 

The judgment debtor may make a claim of exemption, which requires a noticed motion and a declaration complying with Code of Civil Procedure section 703.520. (Code Civ. Proc., § 708.550.) The declaration must include the claimant’s information, a description of the property claimed to be exempt, a financial statement, and facts to support the claim. (See Code Civ. Proc., §§ 703.520; 703.530.) 

Plaintiff Palisades Circle Homeowners Association (“Plaintiff”) moves the Court for an order requiring Defendant Lois Anderson (“Defendant”) to assign to Plaintiff Defendant’s interest in rental income from the real property at 17238 Palisades Circle in Pacific Palisades. Plaintiff also moves for an order restraining Defendant and any servant, agent, employee, or attorney for Defendant or anyone acting in concert and participating with Defendant from encumbering, assigning, disposing, or spending the rental receipts from the tenant of 17238 Palisades Circle in Pacific Palisades and all rights to payment thereunder.

Plaintiff has provided proof of its judgment obtained against Defendant on March 29, 2006, in the amount of $21,000, which was renewed on January 8, 2016, with a subsequent judgment entered on September 14, 2016, in the amount of $3,000. (Mot., Greiner Decl. ¶ 2, Exs. 1-3.) Plaintiff has also provided a copy of the August 31, 2023, Amended Writ of Execution showing the balance due to be $81,817.65, and Plaintiff states that a $13 payment from a bank levy has reduced the total amount due to $81,804.65. (Mot., Greiner Decl. ¶ 3, Ex. 4.) Plaintiff attests that it is due rents on real property paid by Defendant’s tenants at 17238 Palisades Circle in Pacific Palisades. (Mot., Greiner Decl. ¶ 5.)

This matter first came on for hearing on January 17, 2024, and the Court continued the hearing after Plaintiff filed a Request for Continuance of Haring on Motion for Assignment Order, requesting a continuance of 60 days so she may obtain counsel to represent her in this proceeding. Defendant states that she is in bad health and was not represented by competent counsel in the underlying proceeding. (Opp’n, p. 1, ll. 22-24.) The Court noted that the competence of former counsel is not a proper issue for consideration in the context of a motion for assignment order or claim of exemption, i.e., this does not show that Defendant’s rental proceeds should be exempted in some respect, and Plaintiff had not filed a claim of exemption, but the Court nonetheless allowed a continuance to allow Defendant to file a claim of exemption while stating that if Defendant has not filed a claim of exemption pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 703.520 before the present continued hearing date, Plaintiff’s motion would be granted. As of the date of entry of this order, Defendant has not filed a claim of exemption. Accordingly, Plaintiff Palisades Circle Homeowners Association’s Motion for Assignment Order is GRANTED. The rights to rental payment from tenants of Defendant Lois Anderson for rental of property at 17238 Palisades Circle in Pacific Palisades, California 90272 are hereby assigned to Plaintiff Palisades Circle Homeowners Association until such time the judgment of the present action has been fully satisfied.