Simple English definitions for legal terms
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Postjudgment interest is the extra money a person has to pay when they lose a court case and owe money to the other person. It's like a fee for not paying on time. The person who won the case can collect this interest from the person who lost the case until they pay the full amount owed. In federal court, there are specific rules for how much interest can be charged and when it starts. This interest is meant to make up for the time it takes to get paid after winning a court case.
Postjudgment interest is the interest that a creditor, usually the person who won the case, can collect from the debtor, usually the person who lost the case, from the time the judgment is entered in the court clerk's record until the judgment is paid.
For example, if someone sues another person and wins a judgment for $10,000, the person who lost the case would have to pay the $10,000 plus any postjudgment interest that has accrued since the judgment was entered.
In federal court, there is a law that governs postjudgment interest for civil and bankruptcy cases. This law allows creditors to collect interest on judgments owed to them for judgments rendered in a federal district court. The federal government also provides a scheme of applicable rates to determine the postjudgment interest on decisions rendered in federal court.
For instance, in the case of Van Asdale v. Int’l Game Tech., the 9th Circuit granted postjudgment interest on an award of back wages in a Sarbanes-Oxley whistleblower case. The court applied the postjudgment interest rate that applies to all civil cases in federal district courts pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1961, and not the interest rate for underpayment of federal taxes.
Overall, postjudgment interest is a way for creditors to collect additional money from debtors who owe them money after a court judgment has been entered. It is important for both parties to understand how postjudgment interest works and how it can affect the amount owed.