Landmine Judgment

An unpaid judgment enforceable only in a territory or territories where a person or company does not operate or have assets, and which it has chosen not to pay, typically a default judgment. So-called because the judgment sits, like a landmine, with the plaintiff waiting for the person or asset to expose themselves in an enforcement jurisdiction, whereupon assets will be seized. Companies early in their lives often tolerate the existence of default judgments, to find that they become commercial landmines in the future as the business grows.

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