Rule 70.Enforcing a Judgment for a Specific Act

Some judgments cannot be satisfied just by paying money — a judgment might order a party to sign a deed, deliver a document, or take some other specific action. Rule 70 gives the court several ways to make that happen when the party ordered to act flatly refuses. If the party fails to comply within the time the judgment specifies, the court can appoint someone else to perform the act instead, at the disobedient party's expense, and once that substitute act is done, it has exactly the same legal effect as if the original party had done it.

For real or personal property located within the District of Columbia, Rule 70(b) offers a more direct shortcut: instead of ordering someone to execute a conveyance, the court can directly enter a judgment that divests the losing party's title and vests it in whoever is entitled to it. That judgment then operates with the same effect as a validly executed conveyance, with no separate document needed from the disobedient party.

The rule also gives the party owed performance two enforcement tools on request: a writ of attachment or sequestration against the disobedient party's property to compel compliance, and, where the judgment concerns possession, a writ of execution or assistance. On top of all of that, Rule 70(e) preserves the court's separate power to hold the disobedient party in contempt, so a party who ignores a judgment for a specific act faces exposure on more than one front at once.