Everyone knows that having a criminal record (that is, a record of criminal judgments against you) is a bad thing that tracks you for years, if not life, and can affect you even after you have paid everything required (e.g. served all your time, paid all fines, etc.).
Is there an equivalent to this with respect to civil lawsuits? Obviously most civil cases are public record, so I guess it’s possible in theory to have a “civil record” of all the civil cases that you have lost as a defendant that is separate and distinct from your “criminal record” which is a list of all the criminal cases that you have lost as a defendant. Does this actually factor into anything in real life?
For example, are people denied jobs because, “Sorry, we did a background check and you’ve been sued to much for our tastes. You had that Personal Injury judgment in 2010, a Trespass to Chattels in 2008, and that Alienation of Affections judgment in 2003.” after they have paid the judgment? That is, are there collateral effects of being successfully sued other than having to pay the judgment or obey any applicable injunctions that last for a long or indefinite period of time, or can a defendant who lost in civil court just pay the judgment and get on with their life and expect the fact that they were sued in the past is not relevant going forward?
If this is the case, does losing a case as a plaintiff factor in to this? E.g. John P. Bellows is denied a job because the hiring manager notices that John has filed too many losing lawsuits.
Do instances of winning a lawsuit as a defendant (e.g. you were sued for Tortuous Interference but the court found for you) count for anything similar to having an “arrest” record that did not lead to conviction?
Interesting. I’ve never had a judgment of any type appear on my credit report. I could see how judgments for failure to pay debt could appear on a credit report, but do non-debt related judgments appear, and are they known to factor in to credit scores or the decisions of hiring managers, loan officers, school admissions officers, or professional licensing agencies? For example, divorce in the US is normally technically accomplished by one spouse suing the other. Even if they both want the divorce and neither is particularly blameworthy in the marriage falling apart, one of them has to wear the plaintiff’s hat and the other has to wear the defendant’s hat for the case to go forward in the applicable court. Does whoever ended up being the defendant get socked in their credit rating because of this? Does a judgment only appear on your credit report if the defendant is ordered to pay money? E.g. a lawsuit where the result is that the defendant is ordered to stay away from Harry Brown’s property and to attend court-ordered therapy would not appear, but a suit where the result is that the defendant is ordered to pay Harry Brown $10,000 to repair damage to his property caused by the defendant’s negligence would appear.
A large number of cases don’t end up with a win or a loss. I’ve been in three civil suits (all business-related). One was dropped and the other two had sealed settlements, so nobody other than the parties, attorneys, and the court knows how they turned out.
Not in the same way as criminal records are kept. I believe every state and DC sends criminal history information to the FBI’s Interstate Identification Index and other information such as protection orders and lists of supervised releasees are sent by the various states to the National Crime Information Center. This allows a law enforcement agency in New Jersey to find out that a person just arrested for an assault in Jersey City has a record of assault convictions and is on probation in New York. There’s no central repository for civil records. You have to search the bankruptcy court records to find out about a bankruptcy or the appropriate state court to find out about a divorce and both Federal and state courts to find out about other types of lawsuits. (You could of course pay a service to do it for you) Your credit report might show a bankruptcy- assuming that the debts discharged were to entities that report to the credit bureau- but there’s no reason a divorce or a lawsuit over property boundaries would show up on your credit report.
I think its at the discretion of the plaintiff/plaintiff’s attorney to report the judgment to the three credit reporting agencies, so there are no hard and fast rules as there are with creditors such as credit card issuers, who are obligated to report negative activity.
I have seen a few job applications where you are asked if there are any County Court Judgements against you.Quite how the employer then confirms if you are telling the truth I don’t know.
Credit checks ask it in two ways, if there are any judgements, and also if there are any outstanding judgements - they tend to ask for one or the other.
If your lawsuit target was a previous employer, then checking your resume and references would likely reveal that fact. What ex-employer would not be happy to tell your next prospective employer, “I’m sorry but I cannot comment because Ms. X is currently involved in a lawsuit with us.”
An employer that does not at least verify your last position or two deserves what they get, I guess.
Being in civil lawsuits as a plaintiff is like owning cats. One is perfectly normal, a couple are fine, but if you have a bunch of them, a lot of people are going to think you’re a weirdo, no matter how good they are.
“Documents showing that there were 22 judgments against her between 1997 and 2010, including $468 owed to a New Jersey radiology group.”
So there must be some easily accessible database of judgments that the press can get into.
OTOH, I’ve read about lawsuit scammers, the slip-and-sue type people, for instance, who somehow manage to successfully hide their history from the opposing lawyers. 'Cause once you have 5 of those on your record, your chances of successfully suing would seem to go downhill.
[QUOTE=KnowX]
Uncover litigious behavior in the backgrounds of potential partners, vendors, and clients by searching for lawsuit filings. The Lawsuits database provides filing information on civil suits from various courts, including circuit, district, small claims, chancery, and municipal courts throughout various jurisdictions in the United States.
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