The Types of Judgments

This is with permission of Ms. Angie Picardo, she is a staff writer for NerdWallet.

The Types of Judgments

A judgment is the final outcome of a court case in non-criminal trials. A legal judgment is the name of a decision when in civil cases. Depending on the nature of the case, there are several different types of legal judgments. In the majority of civil cases, the legal obligations required by the opposing party are to pay a sum of money that will be used to repair damages, or payback debts. 

 

In some scenarios, cases never make it to trial and are decided upon beforehand. These decisions are the result of Summary judgments. Summary judges are decisions that are made by judges to dismiss a case when they believe that there are no facts, materials, or issues that could be brought to trial. However, the plaintiff cannot take the same case to court for a second time without having additional evidence and a substantial amount of revisions.

Judgment without Prejudice is another judgment but is sort of similar to Summary judgments. A Judgment without Prejudice is the result of procedural errors or errors in the way the case is presented. In this scenario, the actual facts of the case are ignored and trial will not commence until the errors are corrected. However, it is different in the case that a Judgment without Prejudice will allow a plaintiff to bring the same case to court, but only after the procedural errors are fixed.

Amended Judgments are constructed to fix or clear up any misconceptions that may have affected the original judgment. What can also be corrected in amended judgments are erroneous descriptions and omissions. Amended judgments have to be issued within 10 days of the original judgment under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Amended judgments are also usually permitted by State rules of Civil Procedure. An amended judgment cannot be issued to bring in additional parties who were not present originally during the initial case.

A consent decree or consent judgment is referred to as an agreement between the parties involved in a legal issue. For example, if a husband and wife are getting, divorced they may file a consent judgment agreeing to divide the property evenly as part of the divorce terms. Consent judgments can only be approved by the court you file it with, and once the consent judgment is approved it is legally binding.

Judgment notwithstanding the verdict is issued when the judge believes a jury has made a discovery that was not supported by the facts or evidence during a case. The judge may overturn the jury’s decision in this scenario and issue a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. This type of judgment is very uncommon nowadays and is usually followed by controversial opinions.

Default judgments are issued when a defendant in a lawsuit fails to reply to a complaint within the time that is set by the law, which is usually 30 days. Then the plaintiff can request the default judgment to be entered into the court which would give them the right to get a default judgment. If defendants fail to appear before the court of law, then the amount originally sued for can be granted to the plaintiff. If proof of damages are not provided then the court may schedule another hearing to address that issue. However, the defendant who failed to respond can request that the default judgment be set aside as long as they can show a legitimate excuse for not responding.

A deficiency judgment is issued when you cannot fully repay a creditor for a loan even after your property is repossessed. An example would be if you took out a $10,000 loan on a car but the car was repossessed and only sold for $7,000 meaning you would be $3,000 in debt. Since the creditor would want all of their money back, they would take further legal action against if you necessary and collect the remaining amount due which is referred to as a deficiency judgment. Creditors could also sue you for additional prices they accumulated while in pursuit of the deficiency judgment. If the lender or creditor wins the deficiency judgment, you are now personally responsible for the amount of the judgment and also legally required to meet the requirements of the deficiency judgment.

Angie Picardo is a staff writer for NerdWallet. Her mission is to help consumers stay financially savvy and save money with NerdWallet.