Can you go to jail from a civil lawsuit?

A civil lawsuit is a dispute between private parties. If the plaintiff wins, the court enters a judgment, and the tools for enforcing it are financial:

• Wage garnishment, where part of your paycheck goes to the creditor, within federal and state limits.
• Bank levies, where money is taken from your account, subject to exemptions for certain funds.
• Liens on real estate or other property.
• Court orders requiring you to do or stop doing something, such as returning property or honoring a contract.

None of these is a criminal penalty. Being sued does not give you a criminal record, and a civil judgment does not show up on a criminal background check. See is a class action civil or criminal for how the two systems differ.

Federal law, 28 U.S.C. 2007, says a person shall not be imprisoned for debt on process issued by a federal court in any state that has abolished imprisonment for debt, and many state constitutions also prohibit imprisonment for ordinary debt.

Courts have power to enforce their own orders. Under 18 U.S.C. 401, a federal court may punish contempt of its authority by fine or imprisonment, including disobedience of its lawful writ, process, order, rule, decree, or command. State courts have similar powers.

In a civil case, contempt usually comes up in these situations:

• Ignoring an order to appear. After a creditor wins a judgment, it can ask the court to order you to appear and answer questions about your income and assets. If you ignore that order, the judge can issue a warrant.
• Refusing to hand over information or property the court ordered you to produce.
• Willfully violating an injunction, such as a court order to stop a certain practice.
• Failing to pay court-ordered child support or spousal support when you are able to pay.

Civil contempt is meant to force compliance, not to punish. In Turner v. Rogers (2011), the Supreme Court noted that a court may not impose punishment in a civil contempt proceeding when it is clearly established that the person is unable to comply with the order, and it required safeguards such as notice that ability to pay is the key issue and an express finding on that question. Turner, a South Carolina father, had been jailed for 12 months for unpaid child support without any finding on whether he could pay.

Not for the debt itself. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says a debt collector cannot have you arrested, or threaten to have you arrested, for an unpaid debt. But if a collector sues you and the court orders you to appear or to provide information and you do not comply, a judge may issue a warrant for your arrest.

This happens more often than most people think. The ACLU's February 2018 report "A Pound of Flesh" estimated that 77 million Americans have a debt that has been turned over to a private collection agency, and found that thousands of debtors are arrested and jailed each year after collectors use the courts. In those cases, the arrest is for missing a court date or disobeying an order, not for the debt, but the practical result is the same.

The FDCPA draws a firm line on threats. Under 15 U.S.C. 1692e(4), a debt collector may not represent or imply that nonpayment will result in arrest or imprisonment unless that action is lawful and the collector intends to take it. Section 1692e(5) separately bans threats to take any action that cannot legally be taken or is not intended. A collector who says "pay today or you will be arrested" is very likely breaking the law, and that can support a claim for up to $1,000 in statutory damages plus actual damages and attorney fees. See our FDCPA explainer and debt collection harassment lawsuits.

A few things that happen during civil cases are crimes in their own right:

Under 18 U.S.C. 1621, federal perjury, including a false statement made under penalty of perjury, is punishable by a fine, up to five years in prison, or both. Many settlement claim forms require you to sign under penalty of perjury, so claiming a product you never bought is not a harmless shortcut. Settlement administrators screen for fraud, and some claims are denied or referred. See class action settlement scams for the other side of this: fake notices that try to trick you.

If you are part of a class action, you are on the plaintiff side of a civil case. You are not being sued, you will not be ordered to pay anything if the case loses, and there is no path from a class action to jail for a truthful class member. See what happens if a class action loses.

The only real obligations are to tell the truth on any claim form and to meet deadlines if you want to be paid or to opt out. Most class members are never deposed and never go to court, as explained in will I have to testify in a class action.

If a debt collector has threatened you with arrest, called you repeatedly, or sued you over a debt you do not owe, you may have a claim of your own. A free case review takes about two minutes.