By: Armando Nozzolillo and Michael S. Waskiewicz

Garnishments are one of the most effective tools at a creditor’s disposal for collection purposes. The rules and requirements for initiating a garnishment action are laid out in Chapter 77, Florida Statutes. Garnishment actions are generally ancillary to the main action brought by a creditor to establish a debt. However, Garnishment proceedings are still treated as separate and distinct from the main action, and thus, garnishees are not treated as agents of debtors.

This point played a significant role in the outcome of a recent case out of the 4 th D.C.A. In Watson v. Stewart Tilghman Fox & Bianchi, P.A. , a judgment creditor initiated a garnishment action against a judgment debtor’s bank accounts, which were in the possession of a garnishee bank (the “Bank”). The judgment creditor served the motion for writ of garnishment and the writ itself on the Bank by certified mail. The Bank filed a timely answer notifying the judgment creditor that it possessed roughly $11,000 in debtor’s name. 

The debtor moved to dissolve the writ arguing that judgment creditor failed to properly serve the Bank by either hand-delivery by a sheriff or a certified process server. In denying the debtor’s argument, the Court relied on an old Florida Supreme Court case standing for the proposition that a garnishee can waive the requirement of strict compliance with the service requirements. Furthermore, the Court pointed to the well-settled principal in Florida that any defect in service of process can be waived by a general appearance of a party.