Q: If I assign my judgment to a judgment enforcer, and they pursue enforcement in their name – am I legally protected from any lawsuits in the unlikely event of you guys violating any laws in enforcing the judgment?

A: JudgmentBuy never owns your judgment and does not contact debtors. Both JudgmentBuy and judgment enforcers are very careful, follow exactly all laws, and as a result, are almost never sued. After you are no longer involved in any enforcement actions, it is very unlikely that you are going to be sued on any matter related to the enforcement of your judgment.

Of course, anyone can start to sue anyone else for any reason – even if there is no valid reason. There is no question that it is the legal right to enforce judgments that one owns.

When you sell your judgment, it is without recourse – you are no longer involved in the enforcement of the judgment. Even if you use a collection agency or a contingency collections lawyer, and retain ownership of your judgment, you are no longer involved in collections.

All rights and title (for collection) of your judgment is purchased, so it can be enforced by the judgment enforcer (who is usually not a lawyer or a collection agency).

Note that you retain a financial interest in your judgment – your fiduciary interest in your judgment remains, secured by a purchase agreement if any money is recovered.

After you assign your judgment, the judgment enforcer becomes the creditor. You do not have anything to do with the judgment – except for being protected by the agreement for when, how, (and if) you get paid by the judgment enforcer.

That means the debtor or anyone else, has no logical (or rational) basis to sue you for any mistakes the judgment enforcer theoretically could make while enforcing “your” judgment.

You could choose to be involved again – if the debtor starts a motion either to Vacate or Appeal the judgment. It is your choice – you do not have to be involved – but without your help – the judgment might be lost/gone/history. Your risk is generally limited to – your share of the amount the judgment was theoretically worth – at the time it is lost.

In the case of the debtor starting a Motion to Vacate the judgment – your help is usually limited to helping to find a witness – the person who served the debtor. The primary issue before the court is the Proof Of Service.

If the Process Server was your friend – or a Process Server no longer active – your help might be needed to contact them – to help them agree to come to a hearing – as a witness.

In the case of the debtor starting a motion to Appeal the judgment – think of the judgment as being a new lawsuit/case now. This case is now between you and the debtor – The judgment enforcer is no longer a party to the case.

This is a new hearing or trial – the JE is usually out of the picture. It is your choice to be involved or not. If you are not – the judgment is lost. (However, you get a new trial.) If the debtor claims they did not know about the judgment – The JE might even be willing to be a witness for you if they had something personally served on the judgment debtor more than six months ago.