Mente Group LLC v. Arnell Enterprises, Inc
- Virginia Demarchi
- 5:20-cv-07459
- U.S. District Court · Northern District of California
- 3
In Mente Group LLC v. Arnell Enterprises, Inc., Judge Demarchi ordered Arnell to answer post-judgment interrogatories about bank-account transfers.
Mente Group LLC, which sought information to help collect its judgment, and Arnell Enterprises, Inc., which was ordered to answer the post-judgment interrogatories.
What happened
In Mente Group LLC v. Arnell Enterprises, Inc., Mente won summary judgment on its breach-of-contract claim, and the court later entered judgment in its favor. Arnell owed Mente $403,902.28, excluding interest, and had not paid any of it.
Mente asked Arnell to answer written questions about transfers of at least $5,000 from one of Arnell’s bank accounts between January 4, 2021, and January 15, 2023. Arnell did not timely respond, and its lawyer said that much of the information was unavailable. The court found that Arnell had to provide the information it possessed or controlled.
The court ordered Arnell to answer fully and completely by October 30, 2023, and ruled that Arnell had given up any objections by failing to raise them on time. Judge Virginia K. Demarchi also stated that the scheduled examination of Arnell’s judgment debtor would proceed on October 25, 2023.
The detailed version
- Mente Group LLC v. Arnell Enterprises, Inc · No. 5:20-cv-07459
- Virginia Demarchi
- Oct. 23, 2023
Background
Mente Group LLC was the plaintiff and counter-defendant, and Arnell Enterprises, Inc. was the defendant and counter-claimant. On January 3, 2022, the court granted summary judgment for Mente on its breach-of-contract claim. The court dismissed the remaining claims as moot on February 11, 2022, and entered judgment for Mente. On September 22, 2022, the court awarded Mente $233,627.22 in attorneys’ fees and $6,127.10 in costs. According to Mente, Arnell owed a total of $403,902.28, excluding interest, and had made no payment.
Post-judgment discovery dispute
Mente served Arnell with interrogatories—written questions used to obtain information in a case—about transfers from Arnell’s bank account between January 4, 2021, and January 15, 2023. Mente said it needed the information because a transaction summary produced by Arnell suggested that Arnell might have intentionally depleted the account.
Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 69 allows a judgment creditor to obtain discovery from the judgment debtor or another person to help collect a judgment. Such discovery can be used to identify assets available to satisfy the judgment or to investigate concealed or fraudulently transferred assets.
Arnell did not dispute that Mente’s questions sought information within the proper scope of post-judgment discovery. Arnell also offered no explanation for failing to respond on time. The court found it implausible that most of the requested information did not exist within Arnell’s possession, custody, or control. The court stated that, even if some information was unavailable, Arnell still had to provide the information it did possess or control.
Ruling
The court ordered Arnell to answer Mente’s post-judgment interrogatories fully and completely by October 30, 2023. The court ruled that Arnell had waived any objections it might otherwise have asserted because it failed to raise them within the required time. The court also stated that the scheduled judgment-debtor examination would proceed on October 25, 2023. Judge Virginia K. Demarchi issued the order without oral argument.
Read the full 3-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.