Article · Litigation
Winning Is Not Collecting: The Long Game of Judgment Enforcement
28 U.S.C. § 1961
- Type
- Article
- Jurisdiction
- National
- Date
- 2024-07-27
- Topic
- Litigation
A money judgment is a license to hunt, not a payment. This article explains what happens after the verdict, beginning with the sober arithmetic every plaintiff should have done before filing: whether the defendant can pay, whether the assets are exempt, and whether the cost of collection exceeds the recovery. It walks the enforcement toolkit in the order a creditor should use it, from post-judgment discovery under Rule 69 and the debtor examination through judgment liens, writs of execution, garnishment, charging orders against LLC and partnership interests, turnover orders, and receiverships. It explains the exemption regime that shelters homesteads, wages, retirement accounts, and insurance, and why an uncollectible debtor is often uncollectible by design. It then takes up the two theories that reach assets the debtor no longer holds or never formally held: fraudulent transfer under the Uniform Voidable Transactions Act, with its badges of fraud and its look-back periods, and alter ego and successor liability, with the jurisdictional trap of Peacock v. Thomas. It closes with domestication across state lines and national borders, judgment renewal and dormancy, and the strategic use of bankruptcy by both sides.
The full text of this document is available to Executive subscribers and above. See plans.