This measure is similar to Measure 3.5.1. In addition to collecting data from case files, it involves collecting interview data.

Planning/Preparation. Samples will be taken from new cases added to the court judgment dockets for a period of at least 6 months prior to the sample date and not more than 12 months after the sample date. (Terminology among courts for "judgment docket" may vary; the source to use is that maintained by law to identify judgment debtors and creditors.) The sample should include all cases with money judgments that were payable before the date of the sample. At least 150 cases should be included. Further work on this measure is needed to consider whether it is appropriate to distinguish certain types of civil money judgments from others. If so, the sample should be taken in a way that ensures sufficient numbers of each type.

Data Collection. The basic data to be collected include the following: judgment amounts, judgment satisfaction, evidence of enforcement actions, type of enforcement action, and type of legal representation. A data collection form, which includes these data elements, should be created.

When the judgment docket shows no evidence of a satisfaction filed, interviews will be required of the judgment creditor or the creditor’s attorney. The purpose of the interviews is to verify whether the judgment is satisfied; if not, what action was taken; if none, why not.

If the judgment docket does not contain the information necessary to locate the creditor or creditor’s attorney, that information should be obtained from the case record cross-referenced by the judgment docket. Because the sampled cases will be very recent, address and telephone information should be current for most cases.

Data Analysis and Report Preparation. Data analysis should be undertaken to determine (1) the number of judgments for which a record of satisfaction is recorded, (2) the number of judgments for which an interview was required to determine the judgment status and what the status was, and (3) the total number of satisfied and unsatisfied judgments. These figures can then be broken down into subcategories depending on whether the parties had legal representation. It may or may not be possible to use statistical methods to summarize results of two other variables: the number and type of enforcement actions taken and the reasons for not taking enforcement action in cases where judgments were not satisfied. If these variables cannot be analyzed statistically, they should be analyzed qualitatively.