San Francisco Bankruptcy Attorneys | Voiding Judgments | Void a Judgment

If a plaintiff obtained a judgment against you, your San Francisco bankruptcy attorneys may be able to void a judgment against you. A judgment is a decision by a court that describes the rights and obligations of both parties in a lawsuit. In creditor/debtor situations, this usually means that a creditor obtained a money judgment against the debtor.

Judgments may permit the prevailing party to garnish wages, place liens on property, levy bank accounts, and damage your credit. Judgments are most often obtained by court order after plaintiff prevails at trial or defendant fails to respond to a complaint, and the plaintiff obtains a default judgment.

Assume Kiko is sued by plaintiff Bank of America for an outstanding, unpaid line of credit for $15,000. Bank of America serves Kiko with a complaint for a failure to pay on the account. Kiko does not respond to the complaint, and Bank of America obtains a default judgment making it the prevailing party. Bank of America can report the judgment to the credit bureaus. Bank of America can also move to garnish Kiko’s wages or lien on her property, if applicable.

Obtaining a judgment is thus the gateway for a creditor to attack and leverage a debtor. However, once a bankruptcy petition is filed, an automatic stay prevents most collection activities, freezing the creditors in place. Once a debtor successfully completes bankruptcy and receives a discharge, the judgment is voided as a matter of law.

The important exception to bankruptcy voiding of the judgment is when there are allegations of fraud and/or criminal conduct as to the debt at issue. This comports with the Bankruptcy Code’s requirement that bankruptcy is reserved for the “honest debtor”.

Contact San Francisco bankruptcy attorneys from JC Law Group to discuss voiding a judgment and stopping lawsuits.

Back to Examples and Explanations