Lawsuit

===Enforcement===
When a final judgment is entered, the plaintiff is usually barred under the doctrine of ''[[res judicata]]'' from relitigating any of the issues, even under different legal theories. Judgments are typically a monetary award. If the defendant fails to pay, the court has various powers to seize any of the defendant's assets located within its jurisdiction, such as:

* [[Writ of execution]]
* Bank account [[garnishment]]
* [[Lien]]s
* [[Wage garnishment]]

If all assets are located elsewhere, the plaintiff must file another suit in the appropriate court to seek enforcement of the other court's previous judgment. This can be a difficult task when crossing from a court in one state or nation to another, however, courts tend to grant each other respect when there is not a clear legal rule to the contrary. A defendant who has no assets in ''any'' jurisdiction is said to be "judgment-proof."<ref name="Dionne000">{{cite book | title=Foundations of Insurance Economics: Readings in Economics and Finance | first=Georges | last=Dionne | publisher=Springer | year=1992 | isbn=0-7923-9204-3}}</ref> The term is generally a colloquialism to describe an impecunious defendant.

Indigent judgment-proof defendants are no longer imprisoned; debtor's prisons have been outlawed by statute, constitutional amendment, or international human rights treaties in the vast majority of common law jurisdictions.