New Jersey Small Claims Court: A Primer, Part One

A few practical tips about small claims days in New Jersey:

First, expect to wait. A lot. Don't park your car in a metered space. Don't make a 2pm appointment with the hairdresser or schedule a pickup basketball game in the afternoon.

Secondly, expect the courtroom to be crowded. They call sometimes a hundred or more of these cases in a single day, because most of them don't go to trial for various reasons.

Finally, if you're a defendant, bring your checkbook. One of the main reasons that cases don't go to trial is that they are settled on the day of trial. That process is a lot easier when the defendant is able to pay something toward the settlement of their case that day, rather than waiting 7-10 days or more for a check to arrive in the mail.