The small claims limit in New York depends on where you sue

CCA § 1801 · UCCA § 1801 · UDCA § 1801 · UJCA § 1801 · CPLR § 5004

The limits, by court.

Each of New York's four local court systems has its own small claims statute, and each sets its own cap. They are not adjusted for inflation automatically; the Legislature raises them from time to time, most recently doubling the NYC figure.

• New York City Civil Court (all five boroughs): $10,000. New York City Civil Court Act section 1801. The most generous small claims forum in the state. Process in the NYC small claims guide.
• City courts outside NYC: $5,000. Uniform City Court Act section 1801. Covers Yonkers, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle, White Plains, Peekskill, Poughkeepsie, Newburgh, Kingston, Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Utica, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Niagara Falls, Binghamton, Ithaca, and every other incorporated city.
• District courts: $5,000. Uniform District Court Act section 1801. Nassau County district court and Suffolk County district court (which covers the five western towns: Babylon, Brookhaven, Huntington, Islip, and Smithtown). The eastern Suffolk towns use town justice courts.
• Town and village justice courts: $3,000. Uniform Justice Court Act section 1801. Everywhere not inside a city or a district court's territory, which includes most of Westchester outside its cities, all of Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, and the rural and suburban parts of every upstate county. Details in town and village court small claims.

All four caps are exclusive of interest and costs. A $3,000 claim in a village court that comes with $400 of interest and a $15 filing fee is still within the limit; the judgment can be $3,415.

The commercial claims part in each court, used by businesses as claimants, carries the same cap as the small claims part in that court. See commercial small claims.

Why the limit depends on the defendant, not you.

The cap that applies is the cap of the court that has jurisdiction, and that court is determined by the defendant's residence, employment, or place of business. A White Plains resident owed $8,000 by a Manhattan business can sue for the full $8,000 in Manhattan small claims. The same White Plains resident owed $8,000 by a Scarsdale neighbor is in a village justice court with a $3,000 cap, or must give up small claims altogether. The defendant's address sets the ceiling.

When a defendant is reachable in more than one place, for example a contractor who lives in a Rockland town but keeps an office in Yonkers, you may choose the court with the higher cap as long as the connection is real. An office, a storefront, or a regular place of work counts; a P.O. box generally does not.

Claim over the limit: waive the excess, or go to civil court.

If you are owed more than the cap, you have two honest options and one dishonest one that does not work.

Option one: waive the excess. You can sue for the cap and give up the rest. A Brooklyn claimant owed $12,000 may sue for $10,000 in small claims and forgo $2,000. The waiver is permanent; you cannot come back later for the balance. This is often the right call when the extra amount is small relative to the cost, delay, and formality of a regular lawsuit. Someone owed $3,400 by a village-court defendant will frequently accept a $3,000 cap rather than hire a lawyer for a civil action.

Option two: sue in the regular civil part. Every court that has a small claims part also has a regular civil part, and the cap there is higher: $50,000 in NYC Civil Court, $15,000 in city and district courts, and $3,000 in justice courts (so in a justice court the regular part does not help; you would go to county court or Supreme Court). The regular part requires a formal summons and complaint, service by a process server, and adherence to the rules of evidence. A lawyer is not required but is usually worth it above $15,000 or so. Below that, a strongly drafted demand letter followed by small claims with the excess waived is often the better economic choice.

What does not work: splitting the claim. You cannot divide one $14,000 debt into a $10,000 small claim and a $4,000 small claim. A single transaction or contract is one claim, and the court will dismiss the second or treat the first judgment as the end of it. Separate transactions are different; three unpaid invoices for three separate jobs can, in principle, be three claims, though the court may consolidate them and a business claimant has a monthly filing cap.

Counterclaims and the limit.

A defendant in small claims may bring a counterclaim against you in the same case, and the counterclaim is subject to the same cap. If the defendant's counterclaim exceeds the small claims limit, the defendant may either waive the excess or, in some courts, have the case transferred to the regular civil part where both claims can be heard in full. A defendant who wants to counterclaim typically pays a small fee and should do so within a few days of receiving the notice of claim; a counterclaim raised for the first time at the hearing usually entitles you to a short adjournment to prepare.

Practically: if you sue a contractor for a $4,000 deposit and the contractor counterclaims for $6,000 of "extra work," the arbitrator or judge will hear both and net them out. Bring the evidence to defend the counterclaim, not just to prove your claim.

Multiple claims, multiple defendants.

You can name more than one defendant in a single small claim if they are jointly responsible, for example two roommates on one lease or a business and its owner where you believe the owner is personally liable. Each defendant is served separately. The cap applies to the total you seek, not per defendant.

You can also file separate claims against separate people for separate debts, and there is no statutory limit on how many small claims an individual may file, though a claimant who files in volume will eventually be told by the clerk that the commercial claims rules, including a monthly cap, apply to anyone operating as a business. Genuine individuals with a handful of unrelated claims have nothing to worry about.

Interest: nine percent, and when it starts.

New York's statutory interest rate on money judgments is nine percent per year under CPLR 5004, which is high compared with prevailing rates and is one of the quiet reasons debtors should pay before judgment. On a breach of contract or unpaid debt, prejudgment interest typically runs from the date the money was due, not the date you sued, so a $5,000 invoice that went unpaid two years ago carries roughly $900 of interest by the time of judgment, and the interest does not count against the small claims cap.

One exception: since 2022, money judgments arising out of consumer debt against a natural person accrue interest at two percent rather than nine. That rule protects individual consumers sued by creditors; it does not reduce the interest a consumer collects when suing a business, a landlord, or a contractor.

Ask for interest explicitly in your claim and at the hearing. Arbitrators will often award it when asked and omit it when not. A demand letter that states the accruing interest and the date it began running makes the later request easy to prove.

What a demand letter does here.

The cap creates a specific pressure point. A claimant owed $6,500 by a Nassau County defendant is looking at a $5,000 small claims ceiling, a $1,500 waiver, or a formal district court civil action. A demand letter resolves that dilemma more often than not by getting the full $6,500, or a negotiated $6,000, without any filing. The debtor reads that an attorney has quantified the claim, knows the court, knows the interest rate, and has given a deadline, and pays or settles, because the alternative is being sued for the full amount in a forum where their own costs go up.

If the letter fails and you decide to waive the excess, the letter still serves: it documents the full debt, which matters for credibility, and it establishes the date interest began. If the letter fails and you go to the regular civil part instead, it becomes the good-faith predicate every judge wants to see. The flat-fee demand letter page describes the process, and demand letter vs. small claims compares the two head to head.

When a letter is not the right tool here: your claim is well under $1,000, in which case the flat fee is out of proportion and you should just file; or your claim is far above every cap and you need a lawyer for a full civil action from the start. In between, which is where most people are, letter first, court second, and for collection after judgment, how to collect a small claims judgment.