Page 16 - Judgment Enforcement Course 1

Judgment Enforcement – The Step-by-Step Course

DEF: CAUSE OF

More examples of judgments: ACTION

Turn to Appendix 1 at the back of this course. This is an The incident or loss that
example of a typical small claims judgment in the State of gave rise to the lawsuit and
California, where judgments are good for 10 years, and the judgment:
renewable. Take a minute to look it over. Look at the top to see in 1. Failure to pay back
which court the judgment was rendered. What is the date of the loan
judgment? What is the amount? Are costs included? Is it against 2. Auto accident
one defendant or two? Does it have the phone number of the 3. Rent not paid
4. Insurance company
plaintiff who is now the “creditor”? Does it look to you like the wouldn’t pay for
defendant might have assets? Has the judgment expired? the home fire
Etc. There’s probably a
Turn to Appendix 2. This is a medium-size judgment, about million different “causes of
32K. Again, locate the court, the date of the judgment, the action.”

amount, and so on. This is a well-written judgment, because it
really details the decision of the court.

Turn to Appendix 3. This is a Wisconsin Judgment, and it’s quite sizeable, which may
be good or bad. Sometimes smaller and medium-sized judgments are the best. Again, look

at the particulars on this judgment. Did the defendant show up? Or is it by default? Note
that the judgment amount is actually handwritten. Sometimes judgments can be quite
informal. (Note: See 2 more sample judgments on the Forum under “Peter’s Course Files”
#13 and #14.)

80% aren’t enforced? Is that really true?

Have you heard that nearly 80% of judgments are never collected at all? Well, yes, it is
true. Why are they never collected? In many cases the judgment debtor (the JD) is
banking on the probability that the creditor won’t know what to do with the judgment, and
will probably give up after a while, and go away. judgment, and not able to pay the money
right then. However, things can change. A year or
80%? Yes, it’s true, but so later, when a Judgment Enforcer takes over the
remember, there’s a good judgment, the JD may well have the money to

reason why so many are pay. But the creditor has no way of knowing that.
not enforced. In other cases, the JD may simply be angry at the

creditor, and refuse to pay. Or, let's face it, some
people are chronic deadbeats, or just plain dishonest. You don’t want those judgments.

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