Glossary
Judgment
The court's official, final decision in a case. A judgment determines the rights of the parties and is enforceable: it's the document that lets a winning plaintiff actually collect.
A judgment is more than just "you win." It's a written, signed court order that says specifically who owes what to whom, or what one party has to do or stop doing. Judgments are recorded in the court's records and can be enforced by the winning party.
A money judgment doesn't automatically pay itself. The plaintiff has to take additional steps: garnishing wages, levying bank accounts, putting liens on property: to actually collect. Collection is a whole area of law on its own.