How does a defendant pay off damages awarded to a plaintiff?

Question

According to this article (http://www.toptechnews.com/story.xhtml?story_id=0110010E6SH4);

Jammie Thomas, a 30-year-old Minnesota mother accused of piracy by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), has to pay them $220,000 in damages.

I was wondering how just an independant person like that could pay that sort of. I mean RIAA was asking for up to 3.9 MILLION dollars. How does that work? If the damages were that amount... would this woman have to go to prison? Because I'm pretty sure you couldn't take out a loan for $3.9 million dollars and pay it off.

Answer 1

They can seize and auction off any of her assets, put a lien on her property, garnish her wages, etc. She would have to declare bankruptcy and try to protect them.

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Answer 2

Lots of times the person cannot pay . The creditor (the person the money is owed to) can do things such as put a lien on any non-exempt property she owns and attempt to get her wages garnished. Another possibility is that she may be able to work out a payment plan or negotiate for a lump sum payment that is less than the judgmen in return for her not appealing the judgment (settle it).

Answer 3

This is a civil damage award, not a criminal conviction. She will not go to jail. The judgment will be filed in the county where she lives, and in any other county where she might have assets. The plaintiff will have to go after money assets, i.e. checking and savings accounts, first. Then a search for assets will be conducted. Like most of us, she probably doesn't have anything to pursue. However, the judgment will come into play if she ever tries to sell real property in any of the counties where it is filed. Unless she wins the lottery, the plaintiff will realize only a small fraction of the judgment.

Answer 4

I don't believe they ever expect payment. They got what they DID want though. The word is now out that they will prosecute for big bucks. BUY the CD, it's much cheaper.