Often the client will have a valid debt or judgment to which there is no defense, but the debtor will not pay it. How do you help your client get what is his or her just due? The course in creditors rights discusses the rights of creditors to collect debts and the limitations on those rights. Over the centuries, the collection of debts has become a highly contentious area of the law. Therefore, there has developed a very elaborate and complicated system of debt collection law. This branch of the law cuts across the areas of contracts, civil procedure, property, and constitutional law. The course covers self-help collection of debts, the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, the Fair Debt Collections Practices Act, cognovit bonds, pre-judgment attachment, distress for rent injunctions to prevent the destruction of property, and post-judgment remedies for the enforcement of judgments, garnishment, etc. The course ends with a section on suretyship. This course covers only state remedies for debtor/creditor relationships. The federal remedy is bankruptcy, and this law is dealt with in an entirely separate course entitled Bankruptcy. The creditors rights course is taught by a combination of lecture and Socratic method. The beginning of each section of the course begins with a lecture to serve as an introduction to the subject matter, and then the students argue both sides of various cases that will be assigned; then following that, there is a discussion among the class. There will be an examination at the end of the course.

Casebook:

Warren & Westbrook, Law of Debtors and Creditors (2d ed. 1991)

Hornbooks:

D. Rendleman, Enforcement of Judgments in Virginia (2d ed. 1994)
W. H. Bryson, Handbook on Virginia Civil Procedure (2d ed. 1989)
G. Glenn, Rights and Remedies of Creditors (1915)

Classroom Procedure:

Each of the cases designated below will be argued by the members of the class who will argue in alphabetical order, the first representing the original plaintiff in the first case assigned, the second the defendant, the third the plaintiff in the next case, etc. The classroom argument is to be the argument to the trial court (i.e., the hearing on the merits, on a motion to dismiss, on a demurrer, etc.), and the plaintiff is the plaintiff on the original application to the trial court. Use all valid legal arguments, but they must be based on the facts of the case in the casebook and on any reasonable inference found in the opinion. Ignore the time and place of the assigned case; base your arguments on current general principles of law and equity.

I. Self Help

A. Generally.

Text, Chap. I, pp. 3-49.

Handbook, pp. 1-2

Public Finance Corp. v. Davis (1976), Text, p. 17
P = creditor; D = debtor

Vogel v. W. T. Grant Co. (1974), Text, p. 22
P = debtor; D = creditor

West v. Costen (1983), Supplement
P = debtors; D = debt collector (assume Costen is the only defendant)

Crossley v. Lieberman (1989), Text, p. 32
P = debtor; D = creditor's attorney

Scott v. Jones (1992), Supplement
P = debtor; D = creditor's attorney

K.M.C. Co. v. Irving Trust Co. (1985), Text, p. 40
P = debtor; D = creditor

Stone Machinery Co. v. Kessler (1970), Text, p. 110
P = debtor/buyer; D = creditor/seller

Wallace v. Chrysler Credit Corp. (1990), Supplement
P = debtor/buyer; D = creditor's agent B. Confession of Judgment.

Handbook, pp. 2-5

C. Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors.

Text, Chap. II,  G(1), pp. 175-177

II. Pre-Judgment Remedies and Abuse of Process

Text, Chap. II,  B and C, pp. 96-120.

Handbook, pp. 2-5, 291-305

Sniadach v. Family Finance Corp. (1969), Text, p. 97
P = debtor; D = creditor

Home Lumber Corp. v. Karim & Meador, Inc. (1976), Supplement
P = creditor; D = mortgagee

Duncan v. Peck (1988), Text, p. 114
P = debtor; D = creditor

III. Post-Judgment Remedies

Text, Chap. II,  A(1, 3-7),  E,  G(2), pp. 51-59, 71-95, 137-157, 177-184

Handbook, pp. 533-545

Valley Nat'l Bank v. Hasper (1967), Text, p. 84
P = creditor; D = garnishee

Twyne's Case (1601), Text, p. 137
P = creditor; D = debtor and transferee

Kotob v. Hild (1991), Supplement
P = creditor; D = debtor

ACLI Gov't Securities, Inc. v. Rhoades (1987), Text, p. 140
P = creditor; D = debtor

Sharrer, Inc. v. Sandlas (1984), Text, p. 146
P = creditor; D = creditor

First Nat'l State Bank v. Kron (1983), Text, p. 178
P = creditor; D = debtor

State v. Porter Circuit Court (1981), Text, p. 181
P = creditor; D = receiverIV. Priorities

Text, Chap. II,  (2), pp. 59-71

In re Estate of Robbins (1973), Text, p. 64
P = bank; D = state

Credit Bureau v. Moninger (1979), Text, p. 68
P = bank; D = credit bureau

V. Exemptions

Text, Chap. II,  D, pp. 121-137

In re England (1982), Text, p. 128
P = debtor; D = creditor

In re Freedlander (1988), Supplement
P = creditors; D = debtor

Commonwealth v. Irwin (1993), Supplement
Petitioner = debtor (D); Respondent = creditor (P)

Havelock Bank v. Hog, etc., Systems (1983), Text, p. 129
P = creditor; D = debtor

Holmes v. Blazer Financial Servs. (1979), Text, p. 131
P = creditor; D = debtor

Reed v. Union Bank of Winchester (1878), Supplement
P = creditor; D = debtor

Bank of Virginia v. Lenz (1987), Supplement
P = creditor; D = debtor

VI. Suretyship

First Am. Bank v. McCarty (1992), Supplement
P = judgment debtors; D = judgment creditor (bank)

CMF Va. Land, L.P. v. Brinson (1992), Supplement
(To be read but not argued)

Cooper v. Greenberg (1950), Supplement
P = Cooper; D = Greenberg

Siegel's Super Markets v. Montgomery (1990), Supplement
P = passive tortfeasor; D = active tortfeasorVII. Mechanics Liens

J. E. Ulrich, Va. & W. Va. Mechanic's Liens (1985);
J. L. Windsor, "Perfection and Enforcement of a Mechanic's Lien in Va."
25 U. Rich. L. Rev. 291 (1991)

Cain v. Rea (1932), Supplement
P = architect; D = landowner

Bush Constr. Co. v. Patel (1992), Supplement
P = subcontractor; D = landowner

Jaynes Concrete, Inc. v. Seabrook Corp. (1992), Supplement
P = materialman; D = landowner

In re Bradwood Realty, Inc. (1964), Supplement
P = landowner; D = contractor

Rosser v. Cole (1989), Supplement
P = landowner; D = contractor


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