In Jail for Being In Debt

[Optimistic09]

In Jail for Being in Debt was an exclusive article in a local Sunday paper.

I don't believe the article is available online but here is a link to a preview of the article.

http://www.startribune.com/local/94499314.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiacyKUUr

The article talks about debtors being ordered to jail indefinitely until they can come up with x amount of dollars. Some counties set bail at the judgement amount or $2500 dollars, whichever is less. Creditors will ask judges for the bail payments. Law enforcement has become a tool of debt collectors.

[HHM]

This might be a state specific thing.

Generally, creditors cannot get a warrant for just a judgment. These are civil matters and a judgment is a final determination of a matter and the plaintiff has ways to enforce collection. In most states, a judgment does not lead to a warrant.

However, most courts will give a warrant if the debtor fails to respond to post-judgement interrogatories. In that circumstance, the debtor has failed to comply with a specific court order which now makes them subject to civil contempt. A warrant can be issued for civil contempt. Normally (at least in large metro areas), no one is going to actually come out and get you; but if you get pulled over; the officer will have the option.

[onwards]

Generally, creditors cannot get a warrant for just a judgment. These are civil matters and a judgment is a final determination of a matter and the plaintiff has ways to enforce collection. In most states, a judgment does not lead to a warrant.

However, most courts will give a warrant if the debtor fails to respond to post-judgement interrogatories. In that circumstance, the debtor has failed to comply with a specific court order which now makes them subject to civil contempt. A warrant can be issued for civil contempt. Normally (at least in large metro areas), no one is going to actually come out and get you; but if you get pulled over; the officer will have the option.

Yes, I think the warrant is for contempt, not for unpaid debt. Not being imprisoned for debt has been set at a federal level since 1833. There are exceptions to this, such as child support, taxes, court judgments and fines and so on.

I truly do not understand people who ignore a court order to appear though. That's idiotic. Ignore the lender all you want - if you can't pay, there's nothing they can do in practice - but ignoring the court? yeah, that can land you in jail.

[nc73]

But in the end debt can land you in jail. So debtor's prison technically still exists.

[banca rotta]

But in the end debt can land you in jail. So debtor's prison technically still exists.

Not really. As was mentioned it"s contempt of court not actual debt.

Just like one that commits bk fraud. He will wind up in jail but only for violating the bk laws and not the actual debt.

[tigergem]

I watched the video posted by the OP and it seemed to me that the story they were relaying did indicate that this woman was arrested for a debt. Maybe it was a hot check. Here in Texas you can be arrested for a hot check. Whether it was a hot check or a contempt of court issue, is not really stated. I think there is quite a bit of pertinent information left out of this particularly anecdotal "news story".

[WhatMoney]

I watched the video posted by the OP and it seemed to me that the story they were relaying did indicate that this woman was arrested for a debt. Maybe it was a hot check. Here in Texas you can be arrested for a hot check. Whether it was a hot check or a contempt of court issue, is not really stated. I think there is quite a bit of pertinent information left out of this particularly anecdotal "news story".

This story is the usual crap journalism one expects from reporters today. Everything relevant in the story was left out. And it's unlkely this woman has any clue why she was really arrested. It's the reporters fault for not digging into the details. But that would bore the average reader - better to just write something to scare the dummies.

The woman was arrested for ignoring a court ordered appearance. She was not arrested for debt. She was not arrested for ignoring a summons to appear for a pre-judgment hearing. She very likely ignored the initial summons and received a default judgment, which is within her legal right. Then she likely ignored a written interrogatory from the judgment creditor - her first mistake. Then she was ordered to appear for an oral interrogatory at the courthouse, which she also ignored. Then and only then does the judgment holder have a right to go back to court and request a warrant for her arrest for contempt of court, using normal supplemental proceedings law for judgments. In some states the bail for contempt of court can be the same as the debt owed. For deadbeats that think they can thumb their nose at the legal system, this is a good way to force them to pay up. Obey the law and you will stay out of jail.

[frogger]

I thought that we had already beat this horse to death.

You don't get placed in jail for not paying your bills!

[tigergem]

Right, I was just pointing out that they didn't give all the facts in that news story. It was really pretty badly done and misleading.

[nc73]

Yes but how did it get started? DEBTS. So in the end it can land you in jail if you don't do what the court says.

[frogger]

Yes but how did it get started? DEBTS. So in the end it can land you in jail if you don't do what the court says.

So can jaywalking or spitting on the sidewalk. Contempt is what will land you in jail, not owing a debt.

[treehugger1]

Well, with all the wonderful lines of reasoning, I wouldn't have debt if I wasn't born, so perhaps I should be arrested for being alive.

Perhaps someone with more time can look up the courthouse and get a copy of the original complaint. This should be open to public access. Then we can settle this once and for all. We can then see that the woman did not go to jail for failing to pay a debt. As already mentioned, she failed to abide by the rules of law. That is what put her away.

Again, the real truth in this pudding would be to get a copy of the court file and post it here for all to see. This should be the responsibility of the original poster.

We need a rule on this forum that if someone posts third-party information (news stories about debt and prison) it is their responsibility to provide us with copies of the court records related to such. Without the verification, I call BS that the woman was directly jailed for not paying her debt.

[WhatMoney]

We need a rule on this forum that if someone posts third-party information (news stories about debt and prison) it is their responsibility to provide us with copies of the court records related to such.

That would be nice wouldn't it? TH you're such a dreamer.

Even more frustrating is that of the 38 replies to the article, only one person knew that jailing debtors was stopped in the 1800's, and said the woman probably had an arrest warrant for blowing off her mandatory court appearance. And then he was attacked by the rest of the ignoramuses replying, who were all convinced the only way to stay out of jail is to pay your bills.

The article is only available by subscribing to the Sunday newspaper, and even then I doubt the true name of the stupid woman in the video would be given. The reporter would claim client's privilege if you asked him for the name to trace the court case. So the misinformation continues.

[GoingDown]

There are a few debt collector trolls on the BK Forum. They pose as debtors scared of going to jail for not paying their debts, and unfortunately, some forum noobs will believe them.

If people went to jail for not paying their debts, I would be in prison right now.

I'm not worried about it.

nc73 seems awfully worried about it.

Are you a debt collector, nc73?

Optimistic 09?

[WhatMoney]

The full Star Tribune article is now on the Internet:

http://www.startribune.com/investiga...rksUUUycaEacyU

As we all suspected, the lead-in video was highly deceptive and all the debtors in the story were arrested for ignoring mandatory court appearances. This resulted in Contempt of Court orders being requested by the judgment creditor, which also results in a civil arrest warrant for failing to appear. That's been the law forever in every state in the union. Without some teeth to court orders to appear, every Defendent could just ignore the appearance and the entire court system would cease to function. Arrest and jail/bail while waiting for your hearing is the only way to enforce a Contempt of Court order for those who think they can simply ignore it without consequences. The article also pointed out that enforcing civil arrest warrants is low priority for police departments, and it only happens when the cops are fully staffed and have nothing better to do.

I don't feel sorry for a single one of these debtors. They all knew they had arrest warrants for Contempt of Court and chose to ignore it at their risk.

About the woman in the video:

Though she knew of the warrant and unpaid debt, "I wasn't equating the warrant with going to jail, because there wasn't criminal activity associated with it," she said. "I just thought it was a civil thing."

She spent nearly 25 hours at the Hennepin County jail.

The next day, Poplawski appeared before a Hennepin County district judge. He told her to fill out the form listing her assets and bank account, and released her. Several weeks later, Debt Equities used this information to seize funds from her bank account. The firm didn't return repeated calls seeking a comment.

So, beside blowing off an arrest warrant, she let her bank account be seized after she told the creditors where it was. She gets a Darwin award for that.

Todd Lansky, chief operating officer at Resurgence Financial LLC, a Northbrook, Ill.- based debt buyer, said firms like his operate within the law, which says people who ignore court orders can be arrested for contempt. By the time a warrant is issued, a debtor may have been contacted up to 12 times, he said.

"This is a last-ditch effort to say, 'Look, just show up in court,'" he said.