What is a Court Judgment?

     A court judgment typically concerns money. For example, after an auto accident Mr. Jones, the plaintiff, sues Mr. Smith the defendant for $6,000 for car repairs. Mr. Jones wins and the court decides in his favor, judging that Mr. Smith owes Mr. Jones $6,000. In this case Mr. Smith is now the debtor or judgment debtor (the person who owes the money), and Mr. Jones is now the creditor (the person who is owed the money).

     Other case examples might be where the court decides that RM Remodeling, Inc. (the debtor) owes Mr. Anderson (the creditor) $42,000 for breach of contract, or where the court decides that Mary Farmer (the debtor) owes Bob Baker Chevrolet dealer (the creditor) $4,500 for nonpayment of leased vehicle fees.

     What does a Judgment look like? The form of a judgment may vary from state to state. They will also vary depending on whether it is Small Claims or Civil court. You can find many examples of court awarded money judgments online. You may want to look at them now. Go ahead and type in "examples of court judgments" and click on a few links. This should give you a pretty good idea of what a judgment looks like. Look closely - it could be a judgment from small claims or civil court. Maybe even federal court. To help you become familiar with them, I would suggest that you visit your county courthouse and ask to see some of the judgments that they have on file. You'll see that sometimes the original wording of a judgment is scratched out by the judge, and new judgment information added. It can be quite informal. Judgments awarded by the court can vary significantly from state to state and from county to county.

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