Civil suits for collection of UI taxes ordinarily result in default, summary, or agreed judgments rendered in TWC’s favor. A judgment is final the date it is signed by the Travis County District Court Judge; however, it should not be recorded in county records prior to the 31^st day following the date the judgment was signed. Statutes allow a 30 day period following the date of the judgment in which a motion for a new trial may be filed or in which the judgment may be vacated, modified, corrected, or reformed.

When a judgment is rendered, the Assistant Attorney General representing TWC will forward a copy of the judgment to Collection Section, Civil Actions Unit. Immediately upon receipt of the judgment, pull the Collection folder and thoroughly proof the judgment against the Collection folder documents for any errors or omissions. Verify that all partners or officers were included in the final reading of the judgment (the listing of the defendant’s names immediately preceding the amount for which judgment was entered). If any corrections are required, notify the Assistant Attorney General immediately in order to accomplish the corrections within the 30 day period allowed under the statute.

After the judgment has been proofed and the judgment card has been prepared and filed, the judgment date should be entered into the Tax system. Entering the judgment date via the court record maintenance screen will automatically cause the quarters covered by the judgment (all quarters listed on the court record screen) to change to the "J" status and the system will post the appropriate judgment interest accrual for the quarters covered by the judgment.

In order to record the judgment in county records, an abstract of judgment is prepared. Forms C-15B-1 and C-15BR should be used for abstracting judgments in which Texas Employment Commission is named as the plaintiff and Form C-15B-JRW should be used for abstracting judicial review judgments in which Texas Employment Commission is named as the defendant. Form C-15B-JR should be used for abstracting judicial review judgments in which Texas Workforce Commission is named as the defendant.

• Check the court record and detail delinquency screens to verify that the delinquency covered by the judgment has not been paid. If the employer has made a large payment on the account, consider writing him or the field examiner assigned to the account in an attempt to collect the balance owed prior to abstracting.
  
  
• A partially completed abstract (grid area only completed) will usually be in the Collection folder and can be used as a worksheet to type from. Verify that the grid area of the abstract pulled from the Collection folder matches exactly the second page(s) of the judgment by comparing the amounts and dates on the two documents. On post-conversion court records, it may be possible to request a computer-produced abstract.
  
  
• Write the amount of court costs due in the two appropriate spaces on the bottom of the abstract. If a payment has applied to the court costs, indicate the total amount of court costs in the first space and the remaining balance of the court costs due in the second space.
  
  
• Write the current balance due covered by the judgment (including judgment interest and excluding court costs) and the last day of the current month and year in the appropriate spaces on the bottom of the abstract.
  
  
• Check the final reading of the judgment to determine who was included in the judgment and check the served citation(s) in the Collection folder to determine who was served and the address service was accomplished. Write that information on the abstract in the appropriate spaces in the top portion of the abstract.

Corporations:

• If the Registered Agent could not be served due to a bad address and service was accomplished on the Secretary of State, use the Registered Agent’s name and the Registered Office address on the abstract. Do not show service on the Secretary of State on the abstract.
  
  
• If the Registered Agent could not be served because he was deceased or had resigned prior to being served and service was accomplished on the Secretary of State, use the corporation’s address of record as the service address on the abstract. Do not show the Registered Agent’s name and address on the abstract.
  
  
• If service was accomplished on the Secretary of State on a foreign (out-of-state) corporation because the corporation had no certificate of authority to do business in Texas (will not be registered with the Texas Secretary of State), use the registered office address, if one is available, or the corporation’s address of record as a service address on the abstract.
  
  
• If service was accomplished on the Registered Agent of a foreign (out-of-state) corporation with a Certificate of Authority to do business in Texas (will be registered with the Texas Secretary of State), use the Registered Agent’s name and address on the abstract.

Individuals, Partners, and Officers:

• Use the address for service as it appears on the citation if the employer was served in this state or use the last known or current address for the employer.
  
  
• If the employer resides out of the state and service was accomplished on the Secretary of State, use the employer’s out-of-state address or current or last known address on the abstract. Do not show service on the Secretary of State on the abstract.

Examine all documents in the Collection folder for any pertinent information and prepare the "Abstracting Judgments Worksheet" as follows:

• List the county name and the code of all counties in which the abstract should be recorded. This is determined by: the county in which the address of record is domiciled , the counties in which tax liens were recorded , the counties in which wages were reportedly paid , the counties in which the employer (individuals, partners, or officers in officer liability judgments) was served or resided in for at least six months (review of the file), addresses listed on other names/addresses screen, recent addresses on credit agency reports, and any other resources available on the system or in our file.
  
  
• Do not record the abstract in a county solely because the registered agent’s address is in that county.
  
  
• Record the abstract in out-of-state counties if a tax lien has been recorded in the out-of-state county and/or if it appears the employer still resides there.
  
  
• If the review determines that additional tax liens are needed, complete a "Tax Lien Request" form.
  
  
• If the abstract is to be recorded in a county in which no tax lien has been filed, request a tax lien be filed in that county.
  
  
• If a partner or spouse was not included in a previous tax lien, request one be filed on that partner or spouse in all appropriate counties.
  
  
• On officer liability judgments, request a tax lien covering the quarters and charges included in the officer(s)’ portion of the judgment be filed on the officers. (This should be done after each officer liability judgment.)
  
  
• On successor liability judgments, request a successor liability tax lien be filed.
  
  
• List addresses where FL-21’s (form letter providing the employer with a copy of the recorded abstract) should be sent. This letter is sent only when recording judgments for the first time. It is not sent when reabstracting a judgment or when renewing a judgment. These letters are sent to the address of record and to the service address.
  
  
• If it is a corporation and the billing code is "O", do not send a FL-21. Do not send a FL-21 to the registered agent.
  
  
• If the employer is an individual, a partner, or an officer in an officer liability judgment and the Commission does not have a good address for that person, search for the employer(s). Wage record and claimant history inquiries, an alpha name search for another TWC account, a DPS check, and credit agency records may be utilized for these searches. Send a FL-21 when the employer is located.
  
  
• Do not send a FL-21 to the employer’s place of employment (unless it is his own business).
  
  
• If a brief message or assignment is being sent to the field examiner, write it in the BPS column of the worksheet. (Example: If the address of record is no billed and the employer was served at a different address, BPS the field examiner and ask him to change the address of record and the billing code.)

Check the cash journal screen for recent payments.

• If a payment has been made or a credit report shows banking information , send the Bank Freeze Request Form to the Administrative Actions Unit (AAU) regarding investigating the feasibility of filing a Notice of Freeze/Levy. Check delinquency action history screen first to see if a Bank Freeze was issued after the last payment was received. Verify that the current monetary criteria is met before forwarding an account for a bank freeze.
  

Check delinquency and field tax comments screens to see if there are any comments pertaining to the feasibility of filing a bank freeze.

Check stop, fiduciary record, and delinquency comments screens for bankruptcy information.

• If a bankruptcy record is on the account, order the Status folder to determine who is bankrupt. If the bankrupt entity was not included in our judgment, proceed with abstracting.
  
  
• If the bankrupt entity was included in the judgment, request that the Special Actions Unit check on the current status of the case.
  
  
• If the bankruptcy petition was filed during the TWC lawsuit, make a determination if the judgment is valid.
  
  
• If the judgment is valid and the bankruptcy is still open, trace the Status folder for six to nine months to monitor the status of the bankruptcy.
  
  
• A bankruptcy proceeding must be either discharged, closed, or dismissed before we can abstract the judgment (unless the judgment covers post-petition or post-confirmation debt only).

Check stop screen for active stops. Based on the type of stop on the account, we may want to hold off on abstracting. Check delinquency and field tax comments screens for comments containing any pertinent information. Add any additional comments as needed. (Examples of common comments needed are the officer liability, successor liability and agreed judgment comments.) Have any inaccurate, obsolete or unnecessary comments deleted.

Check the master record for the correct styling of the account.

• Add any spouse, partners, or officers names that were included in the judgment and are not included in the styling of the account via address change/closing information maintenance screen.
  
  
• Set up comments on delinquency comments screen explaining the change of the styling of the account. (Example: Judgment in Cause No. _________ includes (name) - added to account styling.)
  
  
• For officer liability judgments and successor liability judgments, send a field memo along with a copy of the judgment to the field tax office in which the account is domiciled.
  
  
• Consider an account a candidate for collection by issuance of an execution if it meets the current monetary criteria and is active and has not made any recent payments and we have failed to collect by bank freeze. A memo should be sent to the field to obtain a recommendation for a writ of execution and submission of Form C-41 (include a blank C-41 with your assignment).

If the account meets the current monetary criteria and is a candidate for injunction action, complete the appropriate memo requesting investigation into the feasibility of injunction action. Criteria to qualify include:

• Active account with employment.
  
  
• Judgment or Final Assessment entered.
  
  
• Tax delinquency continues to accrue for each quarter.
  
  
• No recent payments received.

If the account is a reimbursing employer, send a memo to the appropriate Regional Director or to U.I. Support and Customer Service as determined by the previous correspondence requesting that the claimant files related to this civil action be released. This is necessary only if a memo was sent requesting a hold be placed on the claimant files. Also, be sure to use the appropriate abstract, Form C-15BR, for abstracting judgments on reimbursing accounts.

After the abstracts have been typed, the following steps should be taken:

• If the abstract should be recorded in more than one county, make additional Xerox copies of the abstract so that there is one abstract for each county listed on the worksheet.
  
  
• Produce a notary list and give it and the abstracts to the Custodian of Tax Records and the notary public for signatures. After the abstracts are signed, type the Custodian's name (in two places) and the date they were notarized on the abstract.
  
  
• Order Purchase Vouchers, Forms F-9T, via F9T purchase voucher request screen on the day assigned. If more than one abstract on the same account (officer liability judgments) is to be recorded in the same county, enter the account number one time for each abstract on that account. If multiple F-9's are needed for the same account and court record, they must be requested on different days. Annotate on the suspense F-9's which one is for the corporation and which one is for the officers.
  
  
• The F-9T's will produce in the next day's Tax run. Check lien, judgment and assessment recording, nonquarterly charges, court record, , and detail delinquency screens to insure that the appropriate abstract fee records were created by the Tax system.
  
  
• Sign and date the original F-9T and forward it along with the original abstract to Accounts Payable with an Upfront Payment flag sheet. For abstracts with more than one page, annotate on both copies of the F-9T that there is a rider and contact the appropriate County Clerk to see if an additional charge is involved for the extra page. If so, alter both copies of the F-9T to reflect the correct fee before forwarding it to Accounts Payable. The appropriate adjustment should also be made to that abstract fee on the Tax system. Please see unit supervisor in these cases.
  
  
• Before forwarding the abstracts to Accounts Payable, check stop, fiduciary record, cash journal, delinquency and field tax comments, and court record screens again for any bankruptcy stops or any other pertinent information or paid judgments.
  
  
• Staple a copy of the F-9T to the back of the worksheet and place it in account number order in the Abstract Suspense Folder.
  
  
• Return the folder to file unless it should be forwarded to Administrative Actions Unit for a tax lien or it should remain in Civil Actions Unit for injunction action.

After all of the recorded abstracts for an account are returned from the county clerk, the recording information is established on lien, judgment and assessment recording screen and a FL-21 is requested. See Procedures for Processing Recorded Abstracts.

• When the FL-21 is received, mail it along with a copy of each recorded abstract to the employer. Send the file copy of the FL-21 to Micro Imaging with the appropriate route sheet. If a BPS is on the FL-21, send the field two copies of the FL-21.
  
  
• Before mailing the FL-21, check the Tax system for bankruptcy stops or any other pertinent stops or information that would preclude mailing the FL-21.
  
  
• Check the cash journal screen for recent payments. If the employer has made a large payment, consider writing to collect the remaining balance due instead of mailing the FL-21.
  
  
• Staple a copy of the FL-21 to the top of the worksheet and the recorded abstract(s) to the bottom of the worksheet and file in the Collection folder.
  
  
• Send a copy of each recorded abstract to archiving with the appropriate route sheet.