Legal Question in Credit and Debt Law in Virginia

First, go to the Clerk of Courts of the County where they are located and see if they have filed a "Doing Business As" or Trade Name. document, to identify some other name as the "real" name behind the business.

Of course it is also possible that hte corporation is listed with the SCC misspelled or under some other name.

You might also check the County tax records (which these days are usually on line) which might give you some helpful clues.

Failing that, if you really cannot find any corporate record of a corporation, then you are safe in assuming they are NOT a corporation. Even if you turn out to be wrong, you can show that you made a diligent, good-faith effort to search. It is and was their responsibility to register with the SCC and/or with the County Clerk under a "trade name" (doing business as).

So, I woudl then file the lawsuit against the name of the "owner" or apparent owner as far as you can tell and list next to his or her name "DOING BUSINESS AS" the name of the business. (You can just say "D/B/A" to save space.)

If the business is in fact a corporation, YOU WILL FIND OUT.

They will tell you and object.

The judge will probably allow you to AMEND the Warrant in Debt. You simply file a "Motion for Leave to Amend." Explain how you did everything you could do to search. Because it was THEIR failure to register with teh SCC or County Clerk, you will probably be granted leave to amend the lawsuit WITHOUT paying any more money.

Worse case is you simply file again now that you know more information.

The only problem that could arise with this is that the named person -- the apparent owner -- is broke but the actual busienss has money. In this case they might allow you to be deceived and get a judgment against the wrong party. But more than likely the named person will scream that he or she is not responsible and tell you everything you want to know.