Civil Procedure II

Adverse Judgment

An adverse judgment is a judgment for the other party or one that grants a type of relief different from that requested.

• E.g., less money was awarded than requested or money damages were granted instead of an injunction.
• The determination is result-based. If two causes of action or defenses would give the same outcome, it cannot be appealed if one prevails but not the other. If causes of action award different amounts of damages, it can be appealed if the cause of action with greater damages is rejected.

Getting less damages than sought can be enough to qualify a judgment as adverse, but it must be substantial.