Just a note here from a trial lawyer regarding judgments:
In most states (probably all, but I am not licensed or familiar with the laws of every state, so cannot say for certain), once you get a judgment against someone, you first have to wait for the judgment to become final (you must give the defendant time to appeal). When the judgment becomes final, then you have to execute on that judgment. To do this takes more time and money and legal fees.
You apply to the court for a writ of execution that must then be served by the proper authorities. Those authorities generally serve the writ on the defendant and demand immediate payment. If they do not receive payment, they can then begin seizing non-exempt property that will then be sold to try and satisfy the judgment.
All this takes a great deal of time, effort and money. Many successful plaintiffs just don’t have the funds to do it - or the defendants don’t have sufficient assets to seize and sell. And there are VERY tricky laws regarding what you can and cannot seize - and if you seize something that is not subject to seizure, there are bad penalties attached so that many plaintiffs are afraid to try it.
And in some states you can hit the defendant’s bank account with a writ of garnishment or attachment that will then seize whatever funds are at that moment in the account - but most defendants are wise to this and keep changing bank accounts or banks or never let money sit in the account long enough for the plaintiff to learn on what day to execute the writ.
So, most sucessful plaintiffs file their judgments in the property records of the county in which the defendant resides and it puts a lien on the defendant’s real property which then cannot legally be sold without the lien/judgment being paid from the proceeds.