Judgment

Judgment

A court order to the loser of a lawsuit to pay the winner a specified sum of money. If someone has been harmed in some way, they will seek to resolve the dispute in court and collect damages by filing a lawsuit. Judgments are usually monetary, but can also be nonmonetary. The judgment might force a contractor to complete a job, for example, rather than pay money. Most of the time, a judgment will be for a sum of money because money is the most appropriate form of compensation for the harm. A judgment, paid or unpaid, will remain on the debtor's credit report for seven years, but it will have a worse effect on their credit score of it is unpaid.

For the winner of a lawsuit, a court judgment is only the first step in getting the money they are owed. Actually collecting the money from the debtor can be a long, arduous and not always a successful process. However, judgments are legally enforceable. So, if the debtor does not voluntarily pay the judgment, the creditor can take steps such as conducting a debtor's examination, seizing bank accounts, putting a lien on the debtor's property or hiring a debt collector.

For example, if a borrower does not repay a loan or a credit card debt, the lender or creditor can obtain a judgment to force the borrower to pay. As another example, a landlord who evicted a tenant for not paying the rent might file a lawsuit to collect the unpaid rent, and if the landlord won the lawsuit, it would result in a judgment against the tenant.


Investment dictionary. . 2012.

Игры ⚽ Нужно решить контрольную?
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • judgment — judg·ment also judge·ment / jəj mənt/ n 1 a: a formal decision or determination on a matter or case by a court; esp: final judgment in this entry compare dictum, disposition …   Law dictionary

  • Judgment — Judg ment, n. [OE. jugement, F. jugement, LL. judicamentum, fr. L. judicare. See {Judge}, v. i.] [1913 Webster] 1. The act of judging; the operation of the mind, involving comparison and discrimination, by which a knowledge of the values and… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • judgment — UK [ˈdʒʌdʒmənt] / US or judgement UK / US noun Word forms judgment : singular judgment plural judgments ** 1) [countable/uncountable] an opinion that you have after thinking carefully about something judgment about: It is still too soon to form a …   English dictionary

  • Judgment! — Studioalbum von Andrew Hill Veröffentlichung 1964 Label Blue Note …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • judgment — (n.) mid 13c., action of trying at law, trial, also capacity for making decisions, from O.Fr. jugement legal judgment; diagnosis; the Last Judgment (11c.), from jugier (see JUDGE (Cf. judge) (v.)). From late 13c. as penalty imposed by a court;… …   Etymology dictionary

  • judgment n.o.v. — judgment n.o.v. judgment n.o.v. abbr [Medieval Latin n on o bstante v eredicto]judgment notwithstanding the verdict Merriam Webster’s Dictionary of Law. Merriam Webster. 1996 …   Law dictionary

  • judgment — [n1] common sense acumen, acuteness, apprehension, astuteness, awareness, brains, capacity, comprehension, discernment, discrimination, experience, genius, grasp, incisiveness, ingenuity, intelligence, intuition, keenness, knowledge, mentality,… …   New thesaurus

  • judgment — [juj′mənt] n. [ME jugement < OFr < ML judicamentum < L judicare: see JUDGE, vt. vi.] 1. the act of judging; deciding 2. a legal decision; order, decree, or sentence given by a judge or law court 3. a) a debt or other obligation resulting …   English World dictionary

  • judgment — A formal decision, sentence or Order of a Court of Justice. (Dictionary of Canadian Bankruptcy Terms) United Glossary of Bankruptcy Terms 2012 …   Glossary of Bankruptcy

  • judgment — 1 conclusion, deduction, inference (see under INFER) Analogous words: decision, determination, ruling (see corresponding verbs at DECIDE): *opinion, conviction, persuasion, view, belief 2 *sense, wisdom, gumption Analogous words: intelligence,… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • judgment — A sense of knowledge sufficient to comprehend nature of transaction. Thomas v. Young, 57 App. D.C. 282, 22 F.2d 588, 590. An opinion or estimate. McClung Const. Co. v. Muncy, Tex.Civ.App., 65 S.W.2d 786, 790. The formation of an opinion or notion …   Black's law dictionary

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