Judgments, appeals and enforcement

Judgment

On the matter's Case, open Judgments and choose Record a judgment with the day, the outcome, any amount awarded, costs and the judgment itself as a document. Recording it starts the rules that follow a judgment, such as the time to appeal, as suggested deadlines. It also takes the yearly interest rate, and shows what is owed today and the appeal window; see The case, hearings and filings.

Appeal

On Appeals, Record an appeal records an appeal from a judgment: the court, the day filed, the grounds and its standing, changed later with its decision and outcome. The appeal has its own hearings, filings and decisions, and stays linked to the case it came from.

Enforcement

On Enforcement, Record enforcement records each step taken to enforce a judgment, such as garnishee proceedings, a writ of fieri facias or committal, with its day, standing and outcome.

Each step keeps its own costs and recoveries: Record a cost or recovery on the step adds a cost of enforcing it (the bailiff's fee, the sale's expenses) or a sum recovered, with its day, in the judgment's currency, and the document that shows it where there is one.

What the debtor owes today

A judgment that names money shows, on its record, what the judgment debtor owes as at today: the award still outstanding, the costs, the interest, the costs of enforcing it and what has been recovered, and the balance. Interest runs at the judgment's own rate where it names one, else at the firm's post-judgment rate under Settings; where the firm has set no rate, the balance is shown before interest and says so.

The firm's litigation lists

The words the firm records a case in are its own lists, under Settings, Practice, Litigation lists: Hearing purposes, Adjournment reasons, Filing types, Order types, Judgment kinds, Appeal types, Enforcement, Service methods and Prosecuting authorities.

Each term carries its Name, what it Applies to, a Description and the Citation of the rule it rests on. Its record also shows what it sets in motion: for a filing type who files it, whether it is served and its form; for an order type the days to comply and the step if it is not obeyed; for a judgment kind whether an appeal needs leave; for a method of service the leave it needs, the proof and the day service counts from; for enforcement when it may issue and when leave is needed. Deadlines it sets lists the rules its triggers count, Where it is used counts and pages the records that name it, and a term in use is deactivated, never deleted.

A filing type's record also holds Court fees: one line for each level of court, with the day it applies from, the fee and the published scale it comes from. Add a fee line adds one, and a filing at that court offers the fee on the day it is filed. Keep the lines current as the registry's scale changes. Under Deadline triggers, a term names the triggers a record of it sets running, so recording that order or judgment suggests its deadlines. A term that ends the suit offers to dispose of the case when it is recorded. A term the firm no longer uses is deactivated from its record, and reactivated the same way.