Rule Text
(a) The prothonotary shall immediately enter in the judgment index
(1) a verdict or order for a specific sum of money with the notation ‘‘verdict’’ or ‘‘order.’’ The entry shall state the amount of the verdict or order;
Official Notice
See also Rule 3027(a) governing the entry by the prothonotary of a writ of revival.
(2) an order for equitable relief, interlocutory or final; and
(3) a judgment, whether entered by the court, on order of court or on praecipe of a party. The entry shall state the amount of the judgment if for a sum certain.
(b) In all cases, the entry in the judgment index shall state the names of the parties, the number of the case, and the date and time of entry in the judgment index.
Amendment history: This Rule 3021 adopted December 19, 2003, effective July 1, 2004, 34 Pa.B. 22; amended November 2, 2007, effective January 1, 2008, 37 Pa.B. 6201. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (316406) and (307569).
Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)
This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.
When a court issues a verdict, order, or judgment in a civil case in Pennsylvania, the court clerk (called the prothonotary) must record it right away in an official list called the judgment index. This applies to money awards, court orders for non-money relief, and final judgments.
Each entry in the judgment index must include the names of the people involved in the case, the case number, and the exact date and time it was recorded. If the verdict or judgment is for a specific amount of money, that amount must also be listed.
This record matters because it makes the outcome of your case official and public. It also protects you if you won money in court, since the judgment index is how others can find out that someone legally owes you money.
Committee Notes
Section 8142(e) of the Judicial Code, 42 Pa.C.S. § 8142(e), requires the prothonotary to ‘‘note on the dockets in such office where each verdict, judgment, order, instrument or writ creating a lien against real property is entered, the time it was recorded, rendered, left for filing, or issued.’’ The rule presumes a channel of communication between the court and prothonotary so that the prothonotary may ‘‘immediately’’ docket a judgment entered by the court.
