What is a Default Judgment in Washington state?

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A default judgements is a part of the lawsuit (aka litigation) process.  A lawsuit is filed and delivered to the defendant.  The defendant then has a certain amount of time to respond in writing to the lawsuit.  If the defendant fails to respond, then your attorney can request in writing from the court an order of default.  If the order of default is granted and entered by the court, the defendant has lost.

 

The next step is to asked the court to determine how much the defendant owes the plaintiff.  In a typical injury case the plaintiff, the injured person, would go into court and present evidence to determine the amount the defendant would be ordered to pay. This often involves showing the judge your medical bills, providing statements from your doctors, and giving live testimony from you about the details and costs of your injuries from a car accident.

 

Once that is all done, the judge will review all the evidence presented and decide how much the plaintiff is owed as a result of the defendant’s bad conduct / law violations . 

The judge will enter an order, which is called the judgment on the default.  At that point, the defendant owes the plaintiff the amount of money the court has determined is due to the plaintiff.

 

Essentially the case is done at this point.  Unfortunately, that does not mean the defendant will automatically pay or that the court will get the money for you. There are different sets of rules regarding actually collecting the money owed from the defendant.

If you have other questions about the litigation process, I invite you to give us a call at 425-399-7000.

Max Meyers Law

Max Meyers
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Max is a Kirkland personal injury attorney handling cases in Seattle, King County & surrounding in WA State.