subject: Partially Recovered Judgments [print this page] I am not a lawyer, I am a judgment brokerI am not a lawyer, I am a judgment broker. This article is my opinion, and not legal advice, from my California experiences. If you ever want legal advice or a strategy to use, you should contact an attorney.
Partial judgment recoveries are much more common than full judgment recoveries. Most judgments are never recovered, and for those which are, most are just partially recovered. If a judgment owner is repaid anything on their judgment, it's a huge win.
Even during good economic times, judgment enforcement was never easy. Even when there were good economies, most judgment owners didn't enforce judgments themselves, and most judgments were not enforced. Even for "slam dunk" wage and bank levy situations, garnishments aren't easy or free, and learning the forms and procedures the first time is not easy.
The economic situation has affected judgment recovery big time. These days, to recover anything on a judgment is a major win. Even during boom times, judgments were usually satisfied for part or most of what is due. Now, most judgments are either not collected, or satisfied for only a portion of what is owed.
Judgments are delicate, and have some possible foes including bankruptcy, being vacated, being appealed, judgment debtors dying, moving, hiding assets, or losing their homes or jobs or bank accounts.
Judgment recovery solutions have also been strongly affected by the economic situation. Most recovery specialists and contingency lawyers are much more selective on which judgments they will take, than they were before.
Many judgment buyers are now out of business. Most still active pay less for judgments now, and are now really picky about the kinds of judgments they will purchase.
After buying your judgment, many judgment buyers settle with the judgment debtor for less than the amount owed, to enable them to secure a profit, rather than gambling on potential future profits.
Judgment enforcement is also thwarted by some laws that give breaks to debtors. Some states make it difficult to collect judgments. Judgment debtors get exemptions for several kinds of income, some courts don't permit small claim cases to get assigned, outlandish homestead exemptions, etc.
Certain courts are hostile to judgment recovery specialists when they are not lawyers. Judgment enforcers offer a very valuable function, trying to enforce judgment money from judgments that aren't appropriate for lawyers.
In my job, more than once, I have heard about correctly notarized and court-endorsed assignments of judgments, later getting unraveled with court actions from unreasonable original judgment creditors or their attorneys. That is one cause for a new trend of certain judgment buyers paying with more than 1 payment. A few buyers of judgments pay half "now", and half in six months.
With the down economic situation, and existing and new law changes, recovering an average judgment is more challenging than in the past.
For both original judgment creditors and judgment enforcers, if a judgment debtor is broke, compromising for a portion of what is owed makes a lot of sense.
A judgment is not guaranteed, they are chances to get money. Most judgment creditors do not see a dime of what is owed them. Settlement and negotiation could be a powerful judgment recovery tool.
