Also known as: definitive judgements · final judgment
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A court's final determination of the rights and obligations of the parties in a case. The judgment includes any decree or order from which an appeal lies and resolves the litigation so that nothing remains except execution.
After a bench trial, the court entered a definitive judgment acquitting Diego Duarte of robbery because the evidence failed to establish his identity as the perpetrator. Prosecutors later sought to charge him with the same robbery against a second victim. The prior definitive judgment precluded the new prosecution because it had necessarily decided the identity issue against the state.
Dover Bank removed a contract dispute to federal court. Before any definitive judgment was entered, the district court discovered it lacked subject-matter jurisdiction. The court remanded the case to state court and ordered the bank to pay the plaintiff's removal-related costs and attorney fees.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Dixon Foods sued Dakota Industries for breach of a supply contract and demanded $75,000 in damages. After Dakota defaulted, the court entered a definitive judgment. The judgment could not award more than the pleaded amount or grant relief of a different kind.
Diana Delgado was convicted of intentionally killing her uncle. In a later civil proceeding over the uncle's estate, the court treated the criminal conviction as conclusively establishing that Diana was the slayer. The definitive judgment of conviction therefore barred her from inheriting under the slayer rule.
Deanna Davenport was prosecuted for fraud. The government offered a prior definitive judgment convicting Dwight Dorsey of the same scheme after a guilty plea. The court admitted the judgment to prove that Dorsey had made the false statements essential to the earlier conviction.
Danielle Dixon moved to dismiss a suit on immunity grounds. The district court denied the motion. Because the denial satisfied the three conditions of the collateral order doctrine, the court of appeals treated the order as immediately appealable even though no definitive judgment had yet been entered in the underlying action.
A definitive judgment finally resolves the rights and obligations of the parties and leaves nothing for the court to do except enforce the decision. An interlocutory order resolves only some issues and permits further proceedings in the same case.
Supporting sources
A definitive judgment of acquittal bars a subsequent prosecution when it necessarily decided a fact that the government must prove to convict on the new charge. The preclusion applies even if the second indictment alleges different conduct, provided the earlier judgment rested on a determination inconsistent with an essential element of the new case.
Supporting sources
Yes. A final criminal conviction for the felonious and intentional killing of the decedent conclusively establishes the convicted person as the slayer in a later civil proceeding, even though the civil case applies the preponderance standard.
Supporting sources
…circumstances no warrant for reversal. In California v. Stewart , No. 584, I would dismiss the writ of certiorari for want of a final judgment, 28 U. S. C. § 1257 (3) (1964 ed.); but if the merits are to be reached I would affirm on the ground that the State failed to fulfill its burden, in the absence of a showing that…