Judge: Mark E. Windham, Case: LAM14K00338, Date: 2023-03-09 Tentative Ruling

Case Number: LAM14K00338    Hearing Date: March 9, 2023    Dept: 26

ACIC v. Lee, et al.

MOTION FOR ASSIGNMENT ORDER

(CCP § 708.510)

TENTATIVE RULING:

Judgment Creditor American Contractors Indemnity Company’s Motion for Assignment Order, Restraining Order, and Accounting is GRANTED.

ANALYSIS:  

Judgment Creditor American Contractor Indemnity Company (“Judgment Creditor”) obtained default judgment against Judgment Debtor Hae Sook Lee aka Esther Lee (“Judgment Debtor”) on July 30, 2014. On February 9, 2023, Judgment Creditor filed the instant Motion for Assignment Order, Restraining Order, and Accounting. To date, no opposition has been filed.

Discussion

Under Code of Civil Procedure, section 708.510, subdivision (a), the moving statute, the Court may order the judgment debtor to assign to the judgment creditor or to an appointed receiver all or part of a right to payment due or to become due. The types of payments that can be assigned include wages due from the federal government if not subject to a withholding order, rents, commissions, royalties, patent or copyright payments, and insurance policy loan value. (Code Civ. Proc., § 708.510, subd. (a).)

Relevant factors the Court may take into consideration when making an assignment order include the judgment debtor’s reasonable requirements if they are a natural person, payments the judgment debtor is required to make to satisfy other judgments and wage assignments, the amount remaining due on the judgment, and the amount to be received in satisfaction of the right to payment that may be assigned.

(Code Civ. Proc., § 708.510, subd. (c).) Construing all the applicable statutes together, the “assignment order” contemplated by Code of Civil Procedure, section 708.510, et seq. must include a court order that assigns a right to payment outright (not simply an order directing the judgment debtor to do so). 

Judgment Creditor seeks an assignment order for Judgment Debtor’s interest in payments from Faith Christian Reformed Church or out of Faith Christian Reformed Church. Currently, the judgment remains unsatisfied in the amount of $33,014.66, with only $708.00 recovered from a bank levy. (Motion, Murray Decl., ¶¶2-3 and Exh. 2.) Following a judgment debtor examination, Judgment Creditor received bank records indicating that Judgment Debtor has received payments from Faith Christian Reformed Church, where Judgment Debtor’s husband is a pastor. (Id. at ¶¶4-5 and Exh. 3.) This evidence demonstrates that an assignment order with respect to Faith Christian Reformed Church’s payments to Judgment Debtor is appropriate.

The Court further grants Judgment Creditor’s request for an order restraining the judgment debtor from assigning or otherwise disposing of the right to payment, pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 708.520, subdivision (a). Finally, to the extent Judgment Creditor requests that Judgment Debtor provide an accounting every other month to ensure that payments are being made from Faith Christian Reformed Church as ordered, the request is granted pursuant to the Court’s inherent power under Code of Civil Procedure section 187.

Conclusion

Judgment Creditor American Contractors Indemnity Company’s Motion for Assignment Order, Restraining Order, and Accounting is GRANTED.

Moving party to give notice.