The Judgment Fund
Fun fact! Did you know the United States of America has a fund set up just for paying money judgments?
Prior to its creation, every time a final judgment was entered against a government agency that could not be paid for by an existing appropriation (source of money used for a specific purpose), Congress needed to assemble and create an appropriation just to pay the judgment. This procedural hoop jumping was a burden and created a lot of unnecessary work. To alleviate the burden and also allow for faster payments (to reduce accruing interest), the Judgment Fund was created in 1956 as an indefinite appropriation for payment of final judgments against the federal government. In 1961, the law was amended to allow the Judgment Fund to be used to pay Justice Department compromise settlements for litigation against the government, as well.
The Judgment Fund is managed by the US Department of Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service.
Many different government agencies from the Postal Service to the CDC can request money from the Judgment Fund to pay final judgments entered against the agency if there isn’t already money appropriated to satisfy the judgment. Want to poke around to see payments that were made out of the Judgment Fund to pay final judgments against the government? Check out this online search.
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