You file and serve a complaint on behalf of your client in a breach of contract matter. After several months of contentious wrangling, the defendant offers a generous settlement, with the proviso that payment be made in four quarterly installments over the coming year. Having been bitten by the high cost of litigation, your client is thrilled with the settlement offer and eager to end the distractions to his business that the litigation has caused, but the client doubts that his incorrigible adversary will fulfill the terms of settlement.
“I know just the trick,” you tell your beseeching client. “As a condition of settlement, we will have him sign a confession of judgment. Then, if he breaches, we will immediately enter a judgment against him for the full amount due.”
