As the law clerk in the office, one of my responsibilities is to conduct searches on individuals and corporations. To be honest, it may be one of my favorite things to do. The harder it is to find someone, the more exciting it is for me.
Outside of the Google and social media searches, our office is equipped with a number of programs that we can use for searches, such as corporate searches, property searches, driver’s licence searches, Personal Property Security Act (PPSA) searches – and the list goes on.
Just recently I had to locate the directors of a corporation, who had used the corporate head office as their address for service, and the corporation was no longer located at that address. I successfully located the director by using our programs and doing a lot of digging around.
Usually, with a name and last known address, we would start with a driver’s licence search. However, in this case, all I had was a name and we all know names can be common. I started first with a PPSA search. If they were an officer of the company, chances are they leased office equipment and perhaps guaranteed an equipment lease. I got lucky and obtained the date of birth. Now I could proceed with the driver’s licence search to confirm the current address. I was also able to conduct a property search and confirm they owned property that our client could secure a Judgment against.
After Judgment, we have the ability to conduct credit searches in an attempt to locate any active bank accounts or find an employer that we can garnish wages from.
When someone tries so hard to evade service of documents, or just doesn’t want to be found, I am filled with so much happiness when I can successfully locate them. Does that make me evil, or good at my job?
Christine Allan, Law Clerk