I have written a few articles about dumpster diving before, and since then, a few judgment experts have given me their feedback. One of their stories was so interesting, I got their permission to include their experience into this article.
My articles are my opinions, and not legal advice. I am a Judgment Broker, and am not a lawyer. If you ever need any legal advice or a strategy to use, please contact a lawyer.
The judgment recovery expert had hit a roadblock in their post judgment investigations. They had a particularly sly and experienced judgment debtor that hid their assets well. The judgment enforcer had accumulated quite a bit of information about their judgment debtor, however they had no clues about their available assets. This is the story of their first trash search experience, also known as a dumpster dive.
The judgment debtor lived in a house that they might be renting for cash, about ten miles away from the judgment enforcer's office. The judgment enforcer first used Google Maps, then did a drive-by, to see what he could find out by making a quick visit to the judgment debtor's house.
The judgment enforcer then Googled "cityname garbage pickup" and found the local trash/recycling company for where the judgment debtor lived. The garbage company's web site did not show the scheduled days and areas that garbage was picked up. So, he called the garbage company, and said he was going to move to their town soon, and he wanted to get a little bit of information.
The judgment enforcer told the garbage employee the street and block where their judgment debtor lived at, as the place he would soon move to. He then asked them what day, or day of the week, would his garbage receptacles have to be on the street for pickup? He got his answer (Wednesday morning) and thanked them and said goodbye.
The following Wednesday morning, about 4:30 AM, the judgment enforcer and their buddy started their adventure. The judgment enforcer's friend drove a small pickup truck to the judgment debtor's house. As predicted, the garbage and recycling cans were in front of their house, at the edge of the street.
They pulled up next to the garbage cans and stopped. Their plan was to leave the engine idling, and the enforcer would quickly grab the trash bags inside the judgment debtor's garbage cans. The reality was, while there were a few neatly-tied bags of trash, most of the garbage was loose, wet, sticky, and smelly. So much for a quick and easy dumpster dive.
The judgment enforcer had brought gloves with them, however they brought no other equipment, not even spare plastic bags. The enforcer moved the few sticky bags there were, to the back of the truck. Then he picked up the whole garbage can, and emptied all the garbage into the back of the truck, and got a greasy stain on his pants.
Next to the garbage can was a separate recycling bin, full of mostly junk mail. The judgment enforcer quickly dumped the papers into the back of their truck; just as a light came on at a neighbor's house, and a dog started to bark. The enforcer's pulse rate quickened, and he jumped back into the truck and they drove away, just as they thought they heard a man yelling at them. They did not wait to hear what the yelling was about. Luckily, they were long gone before anyone could see their license plate.
As they neared the freeway, they noticed some of the recycle bin papers were flying off the back of their pickup truck, so they decided to take the back-roads home at a slower speed. They resolved to either be much better prepared next time, or to never do this again. When they got home, they spread their "winnings" on a plastic tarp, and waited for daylight.
Using tongs and gloves, they sifted through the judgment debtor's garbage. As they expected, almost all their trash was just garbage, and all of the judgment debtor's recycling was junk. However, they found a gift within the garbage because they found a partially ripped-up banking statement and a voided check that was half-torn.
That provided enough information to later do a successful bank levy, that paid off the entire judgment. So, even though that stain never came out of his pants, and it was a scary, messy, and time consuming (especially for cleanup), the judgment payoff made the dumpster dive worth doing.
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