Hey all you cool cats and kittens!…your lawsuit is far from over! Just because you won your case and the time period for the other party to appeal has lapsed, the litigation may not be done. Many people have been watching the Netflix hit series “Tiger King” while sheltering-in-place because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and one of the main underlying topics in the documentary is the collection of a judgment. Big Cat Rescue won damages of $953,000 against Joe Exotic in 2013, but quickly thereafter Joe Exotic took a number of steps to hide money and assets (outlined in the link), with Big Cat Rescue having only collected less than 10% of the judgment amount thus far. This saga is a great example of why businesses need to consider the likelihood of collecting a debt against an entity if they were to win the underlying case, before ever pursing costly litigation in the first place….a ruling in your favor is only worth the paper it is written on if you are unable to collect on the judgment.
