Going to civil court in hopes of obtaining a monetary judgment against another party is fairly routine. It happens all the time in county courts across the country. But despite its relative simplicity, there are still debt lines plaintiffs need to pay attention to. This post will address three in particular.
Bear in mind that a plaintiff winning his case would be considered a judgment creditor after the fact. The losing defendant becomes the judgment debtor. Also note that enforcing a money judgment is essentially collecting the amount due.
Deadline #1: The Service Deadline
A plaintiff begins the entire process by filing a lawsuit and then serving the defendant with a copy. Each state dictates its own rules of service. As a general rule however, a lawsuit must be served directly to the defendant or an authorized representative. The defendant then has a certain amount of time to respond.
The service deadline, which is the amount of response time, is typically 20-30 days. A plaintiff is not allowed to take any further legal action during this time. In those 20-30 days, the defendant needs to decide how to respond. If he fails to respond, or does respond but then doesn’t show up in court, a default judgment could be entered against him. A default judgment awards the plaintiff what he is asking for.
Assuming the defendant does respond properly, it is off to court. Plaintiffs may be left waiting for months before a court date is available.
Deadline #2: The Appeal Deadline
The second deadline, the appeal deadline, only comes into play if the plaintiff wins his case. The defendant, now known as the judgment debtor, has the right to appeal. Most states prohibit any sort of collection actions during this period. Creditors are usually looking at 10-30 days.
In the small number of states that allow immediate collection efforts, any money successfully collected would have to be returned in the event the debtor’s appeal is successful. So for all practical purposes, it makes no sense to begin collection efforts until the appeal period has passed.
Deadline #3: the Statute of Limitations
Last but not least is the statute of limitations. As explained by Salt Lake City’s Judgment Collectors, a statute of limitations determines the length of time a monetary judgment is enforceable. Though statutes of limitation vary by state, Judgment Collectors says that most states go 7-10 years. What happens if judgment collection efforts have not succeeded during that time?
As a creditor approaches the statute of limitations, there are a couple of options. The first is to simply let the judgment expire. The creditor goes his way and faces the fact that he will never get paid. Allowing a judgment to expire makes it permanently unenforceable.
The other option is to renew the judgment. Most states allow indefinite renewals for the same amount of time as the original statute of limitations. Other states limit the number of renewals. At least a few also attach a secondary statute of limitations to the renewal, a statute that is shorter than the original.
Pay Attention to the Deadlines
There are other deadlines involved in money judgment cases. They cover everything from filing court documents to responding to requests from attorneys. Here is the point: it is important to pay attention to the deadlines to keep a case on track.
Failing to abide by the established deadlines could jeopardize a plaintiff’s case. On the other hand, failing to adhere could mean a default judgment from which there is no escape. It is better to just stay ahead of things.
