Rule 3.102.Garnishment Before Judgment

MCR 3.102 covers the garnishment that runs before any judgment exists. It works as a holding device. The plaintiff has filed suit on a contract, cannot get the defendant served, and asks the court to freeze money or property in a third party's hands so that a later judgment has something to reach.

When it is available

Subrule (A) draws the boundaries. The action must already be commenced and must rest on a contract. The defendant must be subject to the court's jurisdiction under chapter 7 of the Revised Judicature Act, MCL 600.701 and the sections that follow. Two other uses are closed off: the defendant's earnings may not be garnished before judgment, and neither may property held or an obligation owed by the state or a governmental unit of the state.

The foreign judgment variation

Subrule (A)(3) opens the rule to an action brought to enforce a foreign judgment, with adjustments. The defendant need not be subject to the court's jurisdiction. The request must show that the defendant owes a stated amount on the foreign judgment in excess of all setoffs, that the defendant is not subject to the state's jurisdiction or cannot be served after diligent effort, and that a named person controls the defendant's property or owes the defendant a debt. Subrule (H), which routes objections and dissolution to other rules, does not apply to that variation.

Getting the writ

Under subrule (B) the plaintiff files an ex parte motion supported by a verified statement of specific facts: a contract debt in a stated amount in excess of all setoffs, the defendant's amenability to the state's jurisdiction, an inability to serve process after diligent effort, and good reason to believe that a named person controls property of or is indebted to the defendant. The judge to whom the action is assigned decides whether the writ issues, on findings that the writ is available under the rule and that the statement gives a sufficient basis for it.

Borrowed machinery

Most of what follows comes from MCR 3.101. Service tracks subrule (F) of that rule. Garnishee liability tracks subrule (G), except that earnings stay out of reach. Disclosure tracks subrule (H). Withholding and payment track subrules (I) and (J), with one change that defines the whole procedure: nothing may be paid to the plaintiff until judgment enters. Objections and dissolution run through MCR 3.101(K) and MCR 3.103(H), and costs, default, contempt, and requests to extend deadlines through MCR 3.101(R), (S), and (T). The writ itself, described in subrule (C), carries the verified statement, tells the garnishee to disclose within 14 days and to hold property and payments in place, requires the garnishee to get a copy to the defendant, and warns the defendant that unless objections are filed within 14 days after service, or the defendant appears and submits to the court's jurisdiction, an order may direct the garnished property toward the plaintiff's claim.