Litigation Support – White Collar Fraud Investigation – Corporate Fraud Investigation

We are please to present an interview with Jason Frasca, a New York surveillance investigator from Davis Investigations to give some insight into the “day in the life” of a surveillance investigator.

Tell me a little about Davis Investigations.  How did it get started and where are you now?

Davis Investigations was started by my mother, Dorothy Frasca in 1989.  She had been previously working for another investigation firm in New York City on the surveillance team and just loved it and had a real passion for it so she decided to venture out and start her own company.

She decided early on video surveillance would be the only aspect of investigations she would provide. Our clients were impressed from the start, her passion shining through in her results. Word got around quickly and a business was born. We still provide video surveillance to our 3 original clients today.

The company has evolved into a family business. Adam Frasca joined the company in 2002.  He is our lead investigator for video surveillance. I would say he has taken his mothers passion for surveillance and refined it to a science and art form maximizing results for our clients.

I joined the company in 2004 learning all aspects of the business. I got a crash course in surveillance, standing on cold wet street corners watching doors, standing in hallways for hours waiting for the subjects to leave their doctors appointments.   My role now is spilt between operations and surveillance.

What types of surveillance services do you focus on?

Our primary focus is insurance fraud – major liability claims, medical malpractice and personal injury cases where the plaintiffs are suspected of exaggerating their claims to cash in on their lawsuit. We also do surveillance for general liability, matrimonial and disability.

In the end, surveillance is surveillance regardless of what type it is as long as you understand the objectives. Whether it be a subject building a rock wall or a spouse cheating – the video is the same. It’s about strategy and understanding human behavior.

With over 21 years of exclusive dedication to video surveillance, we have become experts in understanding human behavior, putting ourselves in the best possible position to achieve maximum results on behalf of our clients.

Describe what a day in the life of a surveillance investigator is typically like?

We start very early, typically no later than a 4 am wake-up as you have to be on location by 6 am before your subject starts their day.

Once on location you take your opening shot, with a date and time stamp to authenticate the video. The opening shot is important, as it is the “beginning” of the story.  Our surveillance videos tell a story, with a beginning, middle and an end.

After you take your opening shot you must establish your surveillance position accounting for the various circumstances each surveillance offers from a rural setting dealing with various routes to the main roads and to urban settings with tall buildings with hundreds of people exiting multiple exits.

Once you have all the logistics worked out, you sit and wait.  This is the hardest part of the job. To maintain your focus for hours waiting for the moment when your subject exit then you spring into action! The rush, the moment you got up in the morning for! It may happen at 6:10 am or 3:55 pm, 5 minutes before you cut off the surveillance.

The “middle” – now surveillance begins and you follow your subject discreetly to where ever they take you. Could be just to walk the dog or to the deli down the street for the newspaper, perhaps  to Foxwoods. You never know where you will end up on surveillance, you must be prepared for everything and anything.

We follow on foot, buses, taxi cabs, subways, cars, car services, sometimes all in the same hour. Hoping in out of our own vehicles, parking them, diving back in, only to park them again.  We do whatever it takes to get video of our subjects, making sure the video is steady and professional throughout.

Ultimately the subject gets to a destination.  Either back home after a series of errands and appointments or a destination like a friends house or a Foxwoods. This is the “end” of our story.

Of course there are days where you just sit there all day and nothing happens and at 4 pm you call the surveillance off and arrive home at 6pm. You get out of your vehicle for the first time in 13+ hours and your a bit stiff.

What is the most difficult part of a surveillance investigators job?

The hardest part of a  surveillance investigators job is that unlike the movies we get just one take to shoot our videos just right. There are no do overs or opportunities to go back and try again.

If a subject jumps over a puddle and you miss it on video the opportunity is lost forever.  If a plaintiff picks up a case of water on each shoulder in a Costco and carries it out and you are out of focus, the opportunity is gone. You can’t ask them to go back and carry it again. If your claimant carries a whirlpool across a parking lot and your battery dies you missed the home run shot.  You will never get that chance again to film that million dollar video.

This is not Hollywood. A private investigator on video surveillance has to be perfect to get the home run.

What are the keys to conducting a successful surveillance?

Preparation, Planning, Focus & Tenacity.

Preparation – It starts in the office, working up the case to ensure you have all the details on your subject before going into the field.  Confirming you are going to the right location and that your subject, to the best of your ability lives at that location.  Ensure that you have all your batteries charged and equipment prepared for the field before you arrive on-site and not fumbling with everything when you should be taking your opening shot and watching the door.

Planning – Have a solid plan to approach individual surveillance to maximize the results.  No two surveillance’s are the same. Each requires a plan all their own based on the characteristics of each individual. Work or school schedule, alleged injuries, where they live, age, relationships, modes of transportation available, etc.  Once on-site, the plan must be refined according to the environment. How close are they to any subways or bus stops.  Additional unknown vehicles in the driveway, can you see the house from the street? Can you park on the street anywhere near the home safely or undetected, number of exits from the building, etc.

Focus – Maintaining your focus throughout the course of a surveillance is paramount. It only takes a second for a door to open and close. Much can be learned or lost in that moment.

Tenacity – You must be tenacious day in and day out to constantly acquire video on your clients behalf. The environment, weather and location of the surveillance is constantly changing from moment to moment, place to place.  There are a multitude of outside factors trying to prevent you from acquiring great video – whether it be traffic, a school bus, a traffic cop, a nosy neighbor, a busy parking lot, a crowded subway or an empty subway.  You must be tenacious through it all and press on undetected to get great video… and we do.

What are your biggest challenges in conducting a surveillance investigation?

The biggest challenge we face on a surveillance is identifying a plaintiff or claimant. We are usually given a physical description of the plaintiff or claimant when we receive the case and that is all we have to go on.

When the subject lives in a one family home this is usually sufficient.  However, when there are multiple families living in one home or in an apartment building the chore of identifying the subject becomes a challenging task to say the least. Yet, we do overcome the obstacle through a variety of checks and balances.

What would you say is the key differentiation between you and other surveillance investigators?

I believe the number one thing that separates Davis Investigations, Inc. from other investigators is that we are exclusivity dedicated to video surveillance. We have been for over 21 years and will always be.  We are experts at video surveillance.  We live, eat and breath video surveillance. We constantly talk about the angles, strategies, setups, environments.  Any advantage we can to acquire video on a subject based on a specific surveillance’s unique challenges.

There is an art & science to video surveillance, which we have spent countless hours perfecting. You don’t just buy a video camera and start following someone and call it surveillance. The outcome will will not yield the same results as a trained dedicated professional.

Another key point that set Davis Investigations apart is that we shoot all of our surveillance videos in High Definition (HD) with a date and time stamp. We have been doing this for a while now and the quality of our videos is superior in this format. I do believe we pioneered surveillance video in (HD) and have received nothing but high praise from our clients since rolling it out.

Since the company was founded, what has changed about the surveillance business?

The 2011 surveillance landscape is much more competitive today than it was in 1989 due to the inexpensive nature of the cameras making it easy for anyone with a private investigators license to offer the service.

However, this does not mean they are experts or offering a quality product. In fact, I believe it spreads themselves thin from their core focus in which they originally started their business and ultimately diluting all of their offerings. Jack of all trades, master of none.

What type of technology do you use to help streamline your business?

In recent months we have upgraded our internal systems to allow for a paperless office. While it is the trendy environmentally friendly thing to do, it also allows us to update surveillance cases from any where pushing information through to our investigators immediately, regardless of where they are.

No more printing assignments and being bound to the “static” paper document.  We are now dynamic, on the fly. If new pictures of a subject are acquired they can be routed to the field investigator immediately, in real time along with new relevant search results or details that may have come in after the fact.  It has made a huge difference in our ability to react quickly to changing circumstances.

For people who are looking for a surveillance investigator, what should they be looking for?

If you are looking to hire a private investigator to conduct Video Surveillance you should look for  five things:

1) Insure that they are licensed in the state in which you intend to hire them.

2) Make sure that all of their videos are authenticated with a date and time stamp on every scene.  If there is no date and time stamp the video will not be admitted as evidence into court, it will be worthless.

3) Ask the private investigator you are hiring what type of plan they would implement for you’re specific surveillance scenario. Every surveillance is different and your potential investigator should have no problem sharing their ideas with you upfront.

4) Be leery of the cheapest price.  Like in all walks of life – you get what you pay for. Davis Investigations uses two surveillance investigators on every case.  This is not a corner that should ever be cut nor comprised for any reason.  You pay a bit more but the return pays for itself 100 fold in the results as the second most import thing after trying to obtain the video is avoiding getting made.

Once the  surveillance is compromised and a subject is aware they have been tailed you can never follow that person again with out them looking over their shoulder limiting all future success. Two investigators covering every possible exit, mode of transportation and the ability to follow long, short or quick and frequent stops is the best strategy for conducting surveillance undetected, allowing for multiple attempts and increasing your chance for success.

5) Finally, the most important credential to look for when hiring a private investigator to conduct  surveillance is their ability to testify on the stand.  Being an expert witness is the most overlooked aspect of hiring an investigator for video surveillance, yet it is the second half of the service you are hired for. Davis Investigations, Inc. has testified 100’s of times authenticating their video’s in court and are considered to be highly credible expert witnesses.

 

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Unless you have been hiding under a rock for the past couple of years, Angry Birds has become one of the most popular video games in history.  It’s been downloaded more than 2 billion times, so much so that Rovio, the game’s creator, went from relative obscurity to talks of going public in a few short years.

The concept of the game is that the “angry birds” are seeking revenge against the green pigs who have stolen the birds’ eggs. The birds use their unique destructive powers to destroy the pigs’ fortified castles and re-capture their eggs.  If you have never played it, this may sound completely ridiculous, but rest assured it’s witty, fun and can provide hours of entertainment.

So what can Angry Birds teach you about a private investigator?  Here are some overlapping principles between the game and the investigation profession:

1Don’t use the wrong bird for the wrong job

Each “angry bird” has its own unique destructive power to destroy the pigs’ fortified castles.   Yellow birds can cut through things with precision and accuracy, blue birds can shatter glass and the black birds use their explosive power to blow things up.  However, using the wrong bird for the wrong job can be a complete waste of time.

Professional Investigators have their own unique talents and specialties, but using the wrong investigator for the wrong task can doom a case from the start.

2There are different ways to knock down a fortress

In the game, there are many different ways to pass each level, using the various birds to destroy the pigs’ castle and move on to the next level. There is not one way to do it – no “right way”, no “wrong way.” There are just different approaches which often take multiple attempts to perfect a strategy and knock down the castle.

In comparison, there are several investigative techniques that a private investigator can use to achieve a particular objective, utilizing what we call “human” intelligence, open sources or public documents.  Some techniques can be more efficient than others and in some cases you have to try multiple techniques to achieve your objective. The point here is that there are many ways to skin a cat (or in this case pigs).

3“Three Stars” is the goal, but not always attainable

When you pass a level in Angry Birds, you get one, two or three stars depending on the amount of points accumulated.  A three star is like hitting a home run in baseball; it’s the perfect outcome.  Sometimes you pass the level on the first shot, but in other cases, it takes numerous  attempts to pass a level and even more attempts and effort to get three stars.

For a private investigator, we would love to get that “three stars” or get that proverbial “smoking gun” which could ultimately break the case open.  In a perfect situation, the most valuable information can be obtained early in the case, other times it can takes months of investigation.  As with anything though, the proverbial “smoking gun” doesn’t always exist.

Final Thought

It’s not often when a video game can be reflective of anything outside of pure entertainment, but in this case fans of Angry Birds can better appreciate some of the nuances of a private investigator.

Your turn. What do you think? Any other things that Angry Birds can teach you?  Let us know in the comments.

Photo courtesy of Rovio.

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In today’s information age, the clichéd old-school private detective has dropped their fedora and library card and turned to the Internet and investigative databases to gather intelligence.

Although this approach has tremendous value for its speed, cost effectiveness and ability to broadly search a wide variety of records, relying on the Internet and database records has exposed inconsistent and erroneous information.

We have found the most effective and thorough way to gather intelligence is to utilize a multi-pronged investigative approach. The key to this investigative approach is to identify mutually supporting information from various disparate sources to gather a more accurate, comprehensive and complete picture.

Three-Pronged Approach

As noted in the diagram above, we utilize three distinct approaches to gather information:

  • Online Sources: Proprietary databases and online sources offer a quick, easy and cost effective way to aggregate information.
  • Source-Based Information: Online sources are quick and easy, but if you want to obtain more in-depth information on facts and information, there’s no better place to go than the source.
  • “Human” Intelligence: Includes information which may not be obtained elsewhere including from interviews, surveillance or dumpster diving.

Each approach provides its own benefits and risks, but when used collaboratively, they provide the best opportunity to uncover critical information.

Private Investigator Approach Intelligence Gathering

Examples of This Investigative Approach Uncovering Critical Information

  • A review of state securities regulators records disclosed that a candidate at an international investment bank was the subject of an ongoing criminal probe in South America. This information was not available through FINRA’s BrokerCheck system which is available on the Internet.
  • Database searches through criminal record repositories and database records did not identify any criminal record information on the subject of a background investigation, but a review of records at the local courthouse disclosed that the individual had been previously arrested for battery.  The record was not identified through other sources because the name was misspelled when the court provided the information to the outside sources and database providers.
  • An investigation into one of the main principals of an acquisition target did not identify any risk-relevant issues in open-source records, but interviews with former employees disclosed that two former secretaries had previously made allegations of sexual misconduct.  These allegations did not show up in the public record because charges had not been formally filed.
  • Four days of surveillance did not reveal any activity for an individual who was allegedly disabled and unable to work, but additional research identified that the individual had set up a corporation in New York and research later disclosed that the individual was running an Internet consulting business out of their house.

There Is No “One-Size Fits All” Approach

This investigative approach does not detract from the value of the information obtained from any one of the three distinct areas. In fact, in certain cases, using only one of the three approaches may be the most effective route to accomplishing the case objective.  However, using this three-pronged approach gives a private detective multiple weapons to identify fact-based information and overcomes potential problems and/or risks which may be inherent in only focusing on one area of investigation.

Final Thought

This is not a ground-breaking approach, but in today’s Internet age people tend to rely too much on quick and easy solutions.

For any private detective, gathering as much intelligence and information as you can from various sources can ultimately lead to making better decisions and ultimately reaching the client’s case objective.

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Up until about 2006, phone records could be easily obtained by a private investigator (or anyone with a credit card and Internet connection) for as little as $100 through various online vendors.  In order to obtain phone records, these services would typically use pretexting, where an individual would falsely identify themselves as the owner of the phone number in order to obtain confidential phone records.

Hewlett Packard Spy Scandal

Everything changed in 2006, when pretexting was thrown into the public spotlight. Hewlett Packard hired private investigators to find out who leaked confidential information to the media.  Using pretexting, the private investigators hired by Hewlett Packard falsely identified themselves as the owners of the phone number and were able to access private phone records of board members and nine journalists who covered the company without obtaining their permission.  Four private investigators were later criminally charged when felonies.

2007: Pretexting Becomes Federal Offense

When the Hewlett Packard scandal broke in late 2006, pretexting to obtain phone records was a bit of a legal gray area, but in January 2007, President Bush signed the Telephone Records and Privacy Protection Act of 2006, which makes it a federal felony to fraudulently acquire telephone records. While a private investigator can use legitimate tools to try to identify the telephone carrier for a particular phone number and may be able to use the legal system to get the phone records through a court order, obtaining phone records using deceit or without specific permission is a federal offense.

Final Thought

While pretexting is/was the most common way to get phone records, other ways to obtain phone records include hacking and good-old-fashioned bribery, but as their names might suggest, these are also against the law.  So unless you are the owner of the phone, you, or the person you have hired to get the phone records, are breaking federal and state statutes.

And if you think that you are insulated from fines or prosecution by sub-contracting the work out to someone else, think again – Hewlett Packard was fined $14.5 million and the Chairwoman and Chief Ethics Officer were criminally charged in the matter.

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Hello group,
I just did an IRB search [a well-respected database for private investigators] for an individual specifically looking for criminal history. It is known that she has an arrest in 2009. It doesn’t show on the report. What other site should I check that might return what I am looking for.

The above was recently posted by a New York private investigator on a message board dedicated to members of the security and investigation business. Utilizing an online database widely used by private investigators, the investigator was unable to identify a known criminal record.

Since a licensed private investigator was confused, it probably goes without saying that other people are confused as well.

Here are few answers to help clear up the confusion:

Confusion #1: There is no central repository for federal, state, and local criminal records

While there are certain jurisdictions that sell criminal record history information to vendors who charge a fee for the public or investigators to access, most jurisdictions have little or no access to information through outside sources.

The most direct and comprehensive way to conduct a criminal record search is: 1) send someone to the local courthouse or 2) conduct a search through an official repository run by the state or local government in each individual jurisdiction that the person lived or worked.

There are no shortcuts, one-stop shops, “investigative” databases [IRB included] or other sources for this information.

Confusion #2: Conducting a criminal record history check is not as easy as pressing a button

There are over 3,000 local courthouses in the U.S. and the procedures to access these records vary.

In some cases, the only way to access the records is to send someone to the local court.  In other cases local courts offer access to records online while some states have a central repository for collecting and searching records (see How to Conduct a New York Criminal Record Search).

Confusion #3: There is no such thing as a “nationwide” criminal check

There is only one “true” nationwide criminal record search in the U.S., the N.C.I.C. (National Criminal Information Center), which is a central repository for criminal record information that is available only to law enforcement agencies and related criminal justice organizations.

There is no way for the general public to access the N.C.I.C. database.

Confusion #4: Even if you know about a criminal record, it may not come up in a criminal record search

There are many possible reasons that a criminal record may not come up in a search at a courthouse or an official repository run by the state or local government.

The reasons may vary by jurisdiction: the record may have expunged, the criminal act may have occurred in a neighboring jurisdiction, public access may be limited to certain charges (e.g. infractions may not be reportable), the criminal act may have occurred when the person was a juvenile or the person plead to a lesser offense which was not reportable.  To confuse the issue more, there are also federal criminal records, which would not be available in local courthouses.

Final Thought

The bottom line, if you are confused about how to get criminal records, hire a professional private investigator who can help guide you in the right direction.  And if you are looking for a New York private investigator who knows how to get a criminal record, look no further.

If you are interested in learning more about this, check out our previous post entitled The Truth about a “Nationwide” Criminal Check.

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Not every person, corporation or law firm needs to hire a private investigator on a regular basis.  Realistically and thankfully, a private investigator is not someone that everyone has on speed dial.

But if a situation requires one, before you hire a private investigator, take into consideration these questions:

What is your objective?

Are you trying to find someone, collect on a judgment, determine if it’s worth suing someone or perhaps investigate a complex matter? With some cases, the specific objective may be obvious, but often clients are not sure what they really want. Having an ultimate goal or objective before you hire a private investigator can help control costs and focus the investigator in the right direction.

Do you need subject matter expertise?

Investigators often have a specialty. These include surveillance, matrimonial cases, insurance disability matters, internal fraud investigations, adoption, computer forensics, forensic accounting, litigation support, due diligence investigation and background checks.  Hiring the wrong investigator for the wrong job may doom your case from the start. Before you hire a private investigator make sure the investigator you hire has a proven track record in the area you present to them.

What do you already know?

It’s important to collect every relevant piece of written or electronic information in your possession to provide to the investigator. Also, be sure to tell them everything you know—even if it’s not written down. This insures that the investigator has the best tools to be effective and efficient so that they can hit the ground running.

How will the information be used?

Are you trying to get information for your own use or do you anticipate litigation relevant to the information?  In the first instance, it may be appropriate to deal directly with the investigator, but if there is litigation in the works, your investigator should be retained by an attorney to protect work product privilege.

What are your expectations?

We all love a good Sherlock Holmes novel or an old episode of Colombo, but it’s called fiction for a reason. Understanding what the investigator can legally, properly and ethically do will save you from unrealistic expectations and trouble down the road.

What are the risks if inquiries become known?

What if the investigator is caught digging around? If the inquiries the investigator is making are exposed, what’s the backlash?  Think this through. This is key to developing a leak proof investigative strategy to avoid embarrassment or worse.  An investigative approach depends on the sensitivity of the case—make sure you and the investigator are on the same page about technique. Is it necessary to take every precaution and be sensitive or can the investigator go in with guns blazing?

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According to the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners manual, the Right to Financial Privacy Act prohibits financial institutions from disclosing bank records or account information about individual customers to governmental agencies without: 1) the customer’s consent, 2) a court order, 3) subpoena, 4) search warrant, or 5) other formal demand, with limited exceptions.

Even though the statute is limited in scope and only applies to demands specifically by government agencies, most financial institutions will not release information without one of the above listed authorizations.

Even with law enforcement agencies, the most effective way to get bank records or account information is with the customer’s consent.

There are many private investigators who claim that they have the ability to obtain bank records, account information, account details and other financial information.

While this may be true, the fact of the matter remains – obtaining banking or financial details without specific authority is against federal and state statutes.

How does a “rogue” investigator get bank records?

The two most common ways that investigators obtain bank records or account information is through a source in the banking industry or through pretexting. [To save you the Google search on pretexting, it’s loosely defined as the practice of getting your personal information under false pretenses.]

Although pretexting does have legitimate and legal uses [which is a story for another post], the use of pretexting to obtain financial information about another person is protected under the The Gramm-Leach Bliley Act, passed in 1999, which imposed strict penalties for individuals who obtain information about a third party account through pretext or deceit.

Word of Caution

After reading this, you may be thinking, “if I hire an investigator to get banking records, it’s the investigators problem, not mine.”  Consider this though – if you are ever asked to testify as to how the information was obtained, not only will the evidence be thrown out, but there may be legal implications against you and the investigator.

There are several instances investigators conducting a “banking sweep” only to later find that the information was fake.  For example, in 2009, a Toronto private investigator charged his client $60,000 for a “banking sweep.”  The investigator reportedly identified $2.6 million in the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas, but the information was later found to be bogus.

Are there legal ways to get bank information?

There are legal ways to identify bank accounts such as this case study where we identified bank accounts in a divorce filing.

But what you really need to figure out is what you are trying to do?  Are you really trying to conduct an asset investigation, find assets or locate hidden assets?

Final Thought

Information obtained from “inside” sources can be extremely valuable for any investigator, but when the information obtained is by unlawful means, there can be serious legal implications.

Guide to Hiring a Private Investigator

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A pre-litigation asset search can provide you or your client with valuable information to determine if a lawsuit is worth filing or to gain leverage in the course of negotiations prior to filing a lawsuit.

Going through litigation is expensive.  There is nothing worse than racking up tens of thousands of dollars in attorney’s fees only to find the person or company you are suing doesn’t have anything of value.  In other cases, you may be in the midst of negotiating a settlement prior to filing a lawsuit and want to see how far you can push the negotiations, or if you should cut your losses and settle.

In pre-litigation mode, attorneys don’t have the luxury of having the legal authority to access information about liquid assets such as bank accounts and investment accounts.  Attorneys need information quickly, discreetly and most importantly, legally.

What to consider?

Determining whether you should sue a person or a company has two parts – what they may own and what other potential liabilities they may have.  Of course there may be a whole host of hidden assets, but here are a few key assets and potential liabilities that can be identified quickly, discreetly and legally in a pre-litigation asset search:

Assets


Personal Assets

The most significant asset that people own is typically their home, but other assets that can be identified through open sources include motor vehicles, boats and airplanes.  Beyond the obvious assets held directly by a person, assets may also be held by a close associate, family trust, family member or shell company.  Real property assets may have also been recently transferred to other related parties or held overseas.

Business Assets

In addition to holding individual assets, assets may also be held in a corporate entity.   Identifying corporate affiliations through secretary of state filings and other research is an important step in identifying assets held by affiliated companies which may not be held by the subject directly.

Liabilities


Bankruptcy

Obviously, if the person or company has filed for bankruptcy protection, you will eventually be notified and you can file a claim in the bankruptcy proceeding.  What if you haven’t been notified yet?  If the person or company has a history of filing for bankruptcy protection, wouldn’t you want to know?

Civil Litigation

If other civil litigation has already been initiated against the person or company you are about to sue, you may be in a long line of creditors once your lawsuit has finally been settled.  It may also be a sign that you should settle fast.

Judgments/Liens

If the person or company has been subject to recent judgments and/or lien filings, this may be a sign that the company is already heading for trouble.

Final thought

Conducting a pre-litigation asset search can quickly identify assets and potential liabilities that can help you make a more informed decision about whether you should file a lawsuit or if you should cut your losses and settle prior to filing a lawsuit.

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