Rule 69-I.Attachment After Judgment

Rule 69-I is the detailed engine behind Rule 69's general authorization of post-judgment discovery and attachment. Discovery under Rules 26 through 37 is available to a judgment creditor, but with built-in limits: a subpoena duces tecum, a subpoena ad testificandum directed at someone other than the debtor, or any subpoena or deposition notice to the debtor beyond the first one, can issue only with a court order. The rule also allows the creditor to summon the debtor — and, with leave of court, any other person — into court for oral examination about satisfying the judgment, and if the debtor or another person summoned this way was personally served but skips that examination, the court can issue a bench warrant for that person's arrest on the creditor's request.

The rule also protects people caught in the middle of an attachment. Anyone claiming an interest in attached property — other than real property — can raise that claim by motion and affidavit before the property or its proceeds are finally disposed of, and can even demand a jury trial on the issue within 7 days of filing. A garnishee holding the debtor's property or wages has its own clock: 10 days after accepting service of the writ to answer interrogatories about what it holds, and the creditor then has 14 days after that answer to contest it before the garnishee's stated answer becomes binding on its obligations.

Seeking an actual judgment against a garnishee has its own separate deadlines. If the garnishee never files interrogatory answers at all, the creditor generally must apply for judgment within 4 weeks after those answers were due, regardless of whether wages or other property is at issue. If the garnishee is holding property other than wages and has filed answers, the deadline instead runs 4 weeks from that filing. For wages, the deadline runs differently still — 15 weeks from the date the garnishee fails to make a payment due under the writ, a much longer period that accounts for the interruptions common in ongoing employment. Miss the applicable window without court permission, and the garnishment and attachment must be dismissed.

For non-wage attachments, the writ itself must spell out the judgment balance due, direct the garnishee to hold the debtor's non-exempt property up to that amount, and list categories of funds the garnishee must instead release to the account holder — including Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, veterans' and federal retirement benefits under federal law, and disability, unemployment, and workers' compensation benefits under District of Columbia law. The creditor must mail the debtor a copy of the writ and a notice of exemptions within 3 days of serving the garnishee, and a debtor who believes exempt funds have been reached can file a motion with the Presiding Judge, triggering a hearing generally within 7 days and an automatic stay of any further action on the writ until that motion is decided.