Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Illinois

Civil judgments

The word �judgment� is a generic term meaning the official decision of a court regarding the rights and claims of the parties to a lawsuit. A civil judgment can take many forms. For example, a permanent injunction is a civil judgment. An order of the court dismissing a civil lawsuit with prejudice (no right to amend or re-file) is also a civil judgment. An award of money in favor of one party and against another is a civil judgment (i.e., a money judgment).

I assume you are asking about a money judgment against you. Money judgments can be enforced in a number of ways including garnishing your bank accounts, wage deductions, attachment of assets (house, car, boat, etc.).

You can find out about judgments by going to the court clerk for the county where the judgment was entered. The entire court file will be there and may shed light on the particulars of how the case arose and how judgment was entered.

After a judgment is entered, a party has 30 days to ask a court to vacate or modify the judgment. In addition, a party may appeal a judgment to a higher court, but again, the party must act (file a notice of appeal, etc.) within 30 days. After 30 days, setting aside the judgment becomes much more difficult. Assuming that you did not know about the judgment, you must petition the court showing that you have a meritorious defense and showing that you acted very rapidly in petitioning the court when you first learned about the judgment. The time limit on opening judgments is two years. Of course, if you did not receive proper notice (service of process of summons and complaint) for the lawsuit filed against you, the judgment against you is void and may be set aside by a court at any time.