What happens after I obtain a judgment?

Judgements can be obtained with or without trial, but most lawsuits are settled before the matter reaches the trial stage. In fact, only about 10% of lawsuits filed end up in trial. When parties to a lawsuit are able to agree to terms on which to settle the lawsuit without the need for trial, the settlement terms are recorded in what is called a judgment by consent. 

Once you obtain a judgement, it needs to be enforced against the adverse party. If not, it will merely be a piece of paper and your win in court would have been a pyrrhic victory. Even a judgment by consent is binding on both parties and can be enforced legally if either party reneges on the terms of the judgment.

In the instance where the adverse party does not volunteer to pay up the judgment sum (i.e. the amount of money that the court awarded to you in the judgment), you will have to take steps to enforce the judgment.

The first of these steps is to send a Letter of Demand asking the adverse party to pay up. If the adverse party refuses, you will have to take out applications to enforce the judgment. The enforcement procedures available to you are:

• Examination of Judgment Debtor
  This refers to a set of special proceedings that will determine what assets from the judgement debtor are available to satisfy the judgment debt.

• Garnishee Order
  A garnishee order is an order made by the court that allows you to recover the money owed to you by a judgment debtor.

• Writ of Seizure and Sale (Movable)
  This authorises the seize and sell by auction of personal belongings of the debtor to satisfy the judgment debt.

• Writ of Seizure and Sale (Immovable)
  This refers to an enforcement application to seize an immovable property such as a private condominium or office unit, to satisfy a judgment debt.

• Winding Up Proceedings (against a company)
  This refers to an application made to court to liquidate a company due to the company’s inability to pay its debts. The company’s assets will be liquidated and distributed to the company’s creditors.

Your lawyer will be able to further advise you on the pros and cons of each enforcement procedure, as well as the costs of pursuing them in relation to your case.