Don't let your old receivables get away without a fight. Using aggressive legal tactics, I specialize in the area of commercial collection litigation. I hope you find this newsletter informative and useful in your business.

FRAMINGHAM.....You are selling lumber to an out of state company which falls behind on its payments. Your customer promises that it will make timely payments so you continue to ship lumber. After the customer has broken each of its payment promises, what should you do?

Customer X called me. It had sold lumber to an out of state company which had no assets in Massachusetts that I could attach. However, it did sell to two customers who did business in Massachusetts.

Within a few days, I sued the deadbeat and obtained a preliminary injunction. It required these Massachusetts companies which owed the deadbeat monies, to make their payments directly to an escrow account to be held as prejudgment security. Within approximately one month, my client had received payment in full.

FRAMINGHAM....A retail company has been buying product from you. Suddenly you become concerned about this account. The customer is now a deadbeat. What are you going to do?

Company Y called me. I sued and obtained an ex parte keeper attachment on the deadbeat's business. As a result of the keeper attachment and my aggressive negotiations, my client received approximately $32,000.00 in less than one week. Within four months, the deadbeat filed bankruptcy. Without my prompt and aggressive response, my client would have seen only table scraps, if it was lucky.

Don't let your old receivables get away without a fight. Using aggressive legal tactics, I specialize in the area of commercial collection litigation. I hope you find this newsletter informative and useful in your business.

Now this does not always happen, but it could happen for you. Armed with solid paperwork, an aggressive competent collection attorney who knows how to collect debts is a valuable ally in the battle for control of your money.

FRAMINGHAM.....Your top salesperson says that a buddy of his wants to make a large purchase from you. If you keep the reigns of credit too tight, your sales suffer. If you let the reigns too slack you risk deadbeatitis.

What should you do? Do you require the new potential customer to complete the equalizer - your credit application - or do you rely on your salesperson's instincts.

Company A chose "sales, sales, sales" and relied on its salesperson without seeking a credit application. Had Company A obtained a credit application, it would not have sold anything to the deadbeat. The credit application could have shown that the deadbeat had recently filed bankruptcy and was in the process of "reorganizing."

A few months passed without getting any payment. Company A became very nervous - to the tune of $50,000.00.

Company A called me. Within a few days, I obtained an ex parte bank attachment, keeper attachment and bulky goods attachment.

Relying upon an obscure statute, the deadbeat's bank, which had a security interest in the deadbeat's assets, forced my client to dissolve its attachment. The bank then seized and sold the deadbeats assets. After the asset sale, the deadbeat again filed bankruptcy.

Company A became an unsecured creditor whose chances of collecting any of its $50,000.00 ordinarily would have been slim and none. You know the rest of that story.

However, due to my diligence and persistence in the Bankruptcy Court, my client recovered $12,500.00 in settlement of an adversary proceeding.

Company A's actions show the pitfall of an unchecked sales policy. Company A might have avoided this substantial loss. First, it should have done a diligent examination of its potential customer's creditworthiness and should have required a credit application.

Second, in light of the prior bankruptcy, it should have perfected a security interest in all of its future customer's inventory, accounts receivable, etc. This would have made it a secured creditor in any later bankruptcy proceeding.

If Company A had done any homework prior to the sales, it might not have lost $37,500.00. Although there is no guaranteed or foolproof way to make sure that a customer will not beat you, at a minimum following these suggestions may help you avoid repeating Company A's costly mistake.

Now this does not always happen, but it could happen for you. Armed with solid paperwork, an aggressive competent collection attorney who knows how to collect debts is a valuable ally in the battle for control of your money.

In the world of debt collection litigation, the essence of the battle is control. At some point, some debtors either fail or neglect to pay. Some debtors do not pay because they are using you for creditor financing (using your money to purchase and pay for other materials or services from your competition).

Others do not pay because they simply want to spite you. Still others claim that they have no money. Fortunately, several statutes and court rules exist to help you in collecting from the Can Not Pays ("CANOPS") and the Will Not Pay ("WILLNOPS") of this world.

In your battle to regain control from your CANOPS and WILLNOPS, several weapons exist in your legal arsenal. These include, but are not limited to bank attachments, real estate attachments, personal property attachments, keeper attachments, and injunctions.

A Keeper Attachment allows the sheriff to take custody of personal property. It is most effective where the deadbeat is operating a cash business. The sheriff will seize all cash (not checks) as it comes into the debtor's business. Because of the impact it has on the operation of a business, courtsallow Keeper Attachments on an ex parte basis less frequently than they do bank attachments.

It is important to remember that just because you obtained a Keeper Attachment, that does not automatically entitle you to keep the asset you secured. Like any other prejudgment security, it merely evens the playing field.

As with other attachments, the role of prejudgment security is to help ensure that after you have won the battle, you win the war and now control your own money.