Judgment

A judgment is 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 non-monetary. 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 if it is unpaid.