Skorychenko v. Tompkins

Filing 77

Order construing 75 as garnishment notice under Wis. Stat. 812.35(a). Garnishment forms and procedure provided. Signed by Chief Judge Barbara B. Crabb on 3/3/2010. (Attachments: # 1 Earnings garnishment, # 2 Exemption notice, # 3 Debtor's answer, # 4 Exemption worksheet, # 5 Poverty guidelines) (eds),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FO R THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN --------------------------------------------L U D M Y L A SKORYCHENKO, M EM O R AN D U M Plaintiff, 0 8 - cv -6 2 6 - b b c v. ER N E ST F. TOMPKINS, D efendan t, an d K R AFT PIZZA COMPANY, G a r n i s h e e .1 --------------------------------------------O n September 28, 2009, I granted plaintiff Ludmyla Skorychenko's motion for sum m ary judgment in this case, finding that there were no genuine issues of material fact that would prevent plaintiff from enforcing the provisions of an I-864 affidavit of support in which defendant Ernest Tompkins agreed to maintain plaintiff at an income of at least

Because plaintiff has commenced a garnishment proceeding within the context of th is lawsuit as permitted under Seventh Circuit law, Yang v. City of Chicago, 137 F.3d 522, 52 5-2 6 (7th Cir. 1998), I have amended the caption of the case to include the garnishee defendant, Kraft Pizza Company.

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125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. On November 18, 2009, the clerk of court entered judgment in favor of plaintiff in the amount of $10,948.60. Now before the court is plaintiff's "motion for execution," dkt. #75, in which she seeks to garnish defendant's w ages in order to enforce the judgment. Plaintiff states that if she cannot garnish

d efen dan t's wages, she wishes to reach defendant's real property that is not exempt from execution. Plaintiff's motion indicates that she wishes to initiate a garnishment proceeding. This court has supplemental jurisdiction over garnishment proceedings to enforce federal judgm ents. Yang v. City of Chicago, 137 F.3d 522, 525-26 (7th Cir. 1998). Pursuant to F ed . R. Civ. P. 69, this court must follow the garnishment procedures of Wisconsin. G arn ishm en t proceedings for earnings are governed by Wis. Stat. §§ 812.30-812.44. To co m m en ce an earnings garnishment proceeding, a judgment creditor must file a garnishment n o ti ce with the clerk of court. Wis. Stat. § 812.35(1). The garnishment notice should co m p ly substantially with the form in Wis. Stat. § 812.44(2) and describe the underlying ju dgm en t and judgment amount, as well as the name of the debtor, garnishee, creditor and cred it o r 's attorney, if any. Plaintiff's "motion for execution," dkt. #75, contains this

in fo rm atio n : plaintiff states that she received a judgment from this court on November 18, 20 09 , that the judgment amount is $10,948,60, the debtor is Ernest Tompkins and that his em p lo yer is Kraft Pizza Company. Therefore, I will construe plaintiff's "motion for

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e xe cu ti o n" as a garnishment notice under Wis. Stat. § 812.35(1), naming defendant as debtor and Kraft Pizza Company as garnishee. T he next step in a garnishment proceeding is for the clerk of court to issue two earn ings garnishment forms to plaintiff. Wis. Stat. § 812.35(2). One of these forms must be served on defendant (the debtor) and the other form must be served on Kraft Pizza C om pan y (the garnishee). Service may be accomplished by first class mail, certified mail w i th return receipt requested or any other means permissible for service of a summons in a civil action, except publication. In addition to the earnings garnishment form, plaintiff must also serve defendant with an exemption notice under Wis. Stat. § 812.44(4), a debtor's an sw er form under Wis. Stat. § 812.44(5), the schedules and worksheets adopted under W is. Stat. § 812.34(3) and the poverty guidelines chart. I will include these forms with this order. Also, plaintiff is obligated to tender a garnishee fee of $15 to Kraft Pizza Company. W is. Stat. § 812.35(4)(a), which she should include with the garnishment form she serves on the company. Entered this 3 r d day of March, 2010. B Y THE COURT: /s/ _ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ _ __ _ B AR B AR A B. CRABB D istrict Judge

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