Minnesota Litigator Profile: John Halpern Talks Commercial Collections and Give Tips on Tracking Down Uncooperative Debtors

Halpern Photo 280x300 Minnesota Litigator Profile: John Halpern Talks Commercial Collections and Give Tips on Tracking Down Uncooperative DebtorsWhat do you do when you have a judgment and need to collect? Well, for many creditors and collection agencies, the man to call is John Halpern, a 40-year veteran of commercial collections in the Twin Cities.

Minnesota Litigator sat down for an interview where he gave some of his strategies for stopping debtors from declaring bankruptcy, talked about how to track down uncooperative debtors, what he thinks about creditors rights legislation, and also talked about his involvement in politics and he gives a surprise endorsement for a future political figure in Minnesota.

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Debt Collection, Garnishment, and Joint Bank Accounts…The Minnesota Supreme Court Consulted

This past summer, the United States District Court (D. Minn. (Ericksen, J.)) certified a number of questions to the Minnesota Supreme Court to be argued before the Minnesota Supreme Court tomorrow morning (12/1/09)  in Savig  vs. First National Bank of Omaha and Messerli & Kramer, P.A., Case No. A09-1221.


The Minnesota Supreme Court will answer three questions put to it by the federal district court:  (1) may a judgment creditor serve a garnishment summons on a joint account to satisfy the debt of an account holder when not all of the account holders are judgment debtors; (2) if so, is it the judgment creditor or the account holders who bear the burden of establishing net contributions to the account during the garnishment proceeding; and (3) if so, what applicable presumptions regarding ownership, if any, apply in the absence of proof of net contributions?


Below is the U.S. District Court’s first pass at the issues raised in the case.


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