COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
H. B. 2586
(By Delegates Beane, Gallagher, Manuel and Johnson)
(Originating in the House Committee on the Judiciary)
[February 28, 1995]
A BILL to amend and reenact sections four and five, article
five-a, chapter thirty-eight of the code of West Virginia,
one thousand nine hundred thirty-one, as amended, relating
to suggestions of salary and wages; prescribing the method
of service of a notice of execution on a judgment debtor and
of a suggestee execution on a suggestee; increasing the fee
which may be charged for serving a notice on a judgment
debtor; allowing service of a suggestee execution on a
suggestee by certified mail or by the sheriff; permitting a
clerk to issue a suggestion in the county where the judgment
is entered and to mail it to the sheriff of another county
for service; and making technical and grammatical
corrections.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That sections four and five, article five-a, chapter thirty-
eight of the code of West Virginia, one thousand nine hundred
thirty-one, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 5A. SUGGESTIONS OF SALARY AND WAGES OF PERSONS ENGAGED
IN PRIVATE EMPLOYMENT.
§38-5A-4. Notice to judgment debtor; time for service on
suggestee; fee.
A certified copy of an execution issued under this article
against salary or wages shall be served upon the judgment debtor.
Such service shall be made by the court or the clerk of the court
who issued the execution by enclosing the copy in a postpaid
wrapper addressed mailing the copy to the judgment debtor or his
agent authorized to accept service of process and forwarding the
same by certified mail, return receipt requested. The day and
hour of such mailing shall be clearly noted on the face of the
original execution and the clerk of the court or the officer to
whom it is delivered for collection shall not make service upon
the suggestee until the expiration of five days from that time.
The fee for service of notice under this section shall be twenty-
five cents without any one dollar and an additional allowance for
postage, certification fee, or other expenses incurred in
effecting service.
§38-5A-5. Service of suggestee execution upon suggestee;
payments in satisfaction of execution; action for
failure or refusal to pay; payments to be made
every ninety days.
A suggestee execution issued under this article against
salary or wages shall be served upon the suggestee in the same
manner as a summons commencing an action is served. (a) Service
of a suggestee execution against salary or wages may be made by the clerk of the circuit court or the magistrate court clerk, as
the case may be, by sending a copy of the suggestee execution to
the suggestee by certified mail, return receipt requested, with
delivery restricted to the addressee. If the registered mail is
unclaimed, or otherwise is not accepted or is refused by the
suggestee, then service of the suggestee execution shall be made
in the same manner as a summons commencing an action is served,
in accordance with the rules of civil procedure for trial courts
of record: Provided, That if the suggestee is located in a
county other than the county where the suggestee execution
issues, the clerk may mail the suggestee execution by first class
mail to the sheriff of the other county for such service. It
shall be the duty of any person upon whom such an execution,
bearing the notation required by section four hereof, shall be
served, and who shall at that time be indebted or who shall
thereafter become indebted to the judgment debtor named in the
execution for salary or wages, and while the execution shall
remain a lien upon said indebtedness, to pay over to the officer
serving the same or to the judgment creditor such amount of said
indebtedness as is required by section three hereof during the
life of the execution until it shall be wholly satisfied. The
sums so paid shall be deducted from the amounts payable to the
judgment debtor and such payment shall be a bar to any action by
him therefor.
(b) If the suggestee served with the execution is indebted
or will in the future become indebted to the judgment debtor for
salary or wages, then during the time the execution remains a lien on any indebtedness for salary and wages, the suggestee is
required to pay over to the officer serving the same or to the
judgment creditor the percentage of the indebtedness required by
section three of this article, until the execution is wholly
satisfied. The suggestee shall deduct the amounts paid from the
amounts payable to the judgment debtor as salary or wages, and
the deduction of these amounts is a bar to any further action by
the judgment creditor against the wages or salary of the judgment
debtor.
The (c) Once every ninety days during the life of such
execution and any renewal execution, the suggestee upon whom the
execution or any renewal execution is served shall once every
ninety days during the life of such execution and any renewal
execution pay over to the officer who served the same or to the
judgment creditor the full amount of money held or retained
pursuant to such execution or renewal execution during the
preceding ninety days.
If the suggestee upon whom the execution shall be is served,
shall fail or refuse fails or refuses to pay over to the officer
serving the execution or to the judgment creditor the required
percentage of the indebtedness, as aforesaid, he or she shall be
liable to an action therefor by the judgment creditor named in
the execution and the amount recovered in the action shall be
applied in satisfaction of the execution.