Rule 58.Entry of judgment

Rule 58 answers a question that sounds simple but drives deadlines throughout the rest of the rules: when is a judgment entered? Under Rule 58(a), unless the court directs otherwise and subject to Rule 54(b), a judgment is entered immediately once the judge signs it. Rule 58(b) then fixes the effective time for procedural purposes — the moment the judgment is delivered to the clerk for filing — unless the judge has instead allowed it to be filed directly, as Rule 5(e) permits.

That distinction matters because so many other deadlines run from entry of judgment: the 10-day window to move for a new trial or reconsideration under Rule 59, the notice period before execution can issue under Rule 62, and the clock for a notice of appeal all depend on pinning down exactly when a judgment became effective.

Most of the rest of Rule 58 is reserved, pointing readers to the statutes that govern those topics — notice of entry to Rule 54(f), confession of judgment to RCW 4.60, assignment to RCW 4.56.090, interest to RCW 4.56.110, satisfaction to RCW 4.56.100, and judgment liens, their commencement, and their expiration to RCW 4.56.190, .200, and .210. The rule keeps only the entry-timing question for the civil rules themselves and defers the rest to the judgment-enforcement statutes.