Small claims in New York's town and village courts

UNIFORM JUSTICE COURT ACT § 1801

What a justice court is.

New York has roughly 1,200 town and village justice courts, more than any other kind of court in the state. Each town outside a city has one, and many villages have their own on top of the town's. They handle traffic tickets, local ordinance violations, misdemeanors, landlord-tenant cases, small civil actions, and small claims. The judges, called town or village justices, are elected locally, serve part-time, and in many towns are not attorneys; non-lawyer justices complete a state training and certification program. Sessions are typically one or two evenings a week, sometimes in a town hall, a village office, or a shared municipal building.

For small claims this has real consequences. The process is less crowded and more personal than a city courtroom. The judge may know the local businesses. Calendars move at the pace of a part-time court, which can mean a faster hearing date than NYC in a quiet town or a slower one if the justice sits only twice a month. And the $3,000 cap means many disputes that would be small claims in Brooklyn are not small claims in Bedford.

The $3,000 limit.

Section 1801 of the Uniform Justice Court Act sets the small claims cap in town and village courts at $3,000, exclusive of interest and costs. It is the lowest of New York's small claims limits, and it has lagged behind the city courts for years. A $4,500 claim against a village resident does not fit. Your choices are to waive $1,500 and sue for $3,000, or to bring a regular civil action in county court or Supreme Court, which for $4,500 is rarely economical without a strong fee-shifting statute.

The cap is a frequent reason people in the suburbs and upstate send a demand letter before anything else: a letter can ask for the full $4,500, and a court cannot. See small claims limits in NY for the full comparison and the waiver rules.

Finding the right court.

The rule in words: sue in the town or village court where the defendant resides, is employed, or has a place of business. Not where you live, and usually not where the deal was made, unless the defendant has a business there.

Working it out takes two steps. First, confirm the defendant's address is actually in a town or village rather than a city; many suburban addresses carry a city postal name (a "White Plains" mailing address can sit in the Town of Greenburgh, a "Rochester" address can be in the Town of Brighton). Your county's property tax lookup, or the state's court locator, will tell you the municipality. Second, if the address is inside an incorporated village, you may generally file in either the village court or the town court of the town that contains the village. If the village has no justice court, the town court hears it.

The state court system's website keeps a directory of every justice court with address, phone, and session hours. Call before you go. Many justice court clerks work limited hours, and some accept filings only on specific days.

Filing and fees.

You file a small claims form with the court clerk, in person or by mail. The form asks for the defendant's legal name and address, the amount (up to $3,000), and a short statement of the claim. The fee is modest, in the range of ten to fifteen dollars depending on the amount, plus the cost of the clerk's mailing; pay by check or money order payable to the court.

Name the defendant correctly. A judgment against "Dave the plumber" is useless. Use the name on the invoice, the contract, the Department of State entity database for companies, or the county clerk's assumed-name index for sole proprietors using a trade name. If the defendant is a business with both a trade name and a legal name, list both.

Service: the clerk mails it.

The clerk sends the notice of claim to the defendant by certified mail and by ordinary first-class mail, the same two-envelope method used statewide. If the ordinary mail is not returned within the statutory period, service is complete even if the certified mail is refused. If both come back, the clerk will tell you and you will need to provide a better address or arrange personal service by an adult who is not a party.

The notice gives the hearing date, which in a justice court is whatever evening the court next has room on its civil calendar. It also advises the defendant of the right to counterclaim, which they do by notifying the court and paying a small fee, ideally before the hearing.

The hearing: justice, not an arbitrator.

This is the biggest procedural difference from New York City. Justice courts generally do not have volunteer arbitrator programs. Your case is heard by the town or village justice. That usually means one hearing, one decision maker, and no choice to make on the night. It also means a decision by a judge, which preserves a narrow right of appeal to the county court, a right you would give up in NYC by choosing an arbitrator.

The standard is the same everywhere in the state: the justice is to do substantial justice between the parties according to the rules of substantive law, without being bound by the formal rules of evidence. Bring the documents, the photos, the texts, your demand letter with proof of mailing, and any witness who will come. Be prepared to explain the claim in a few minutes. The justice will often ask the defendant questions directly. A decision may be announced at the hearing or mailed afterward.

Interpreters are available free of charge on request; justice courts have fewer in-person interpreters than the city, so ask when you file to allow time to arrange one by phone or video.

What is different from NYC, in one place.

• Cap: $3,000, versus $10,000 in NYC and $5,000 in city and district courts.
• Decision maker: the elected justice, frequently a non-lawyer, rather than an arbitrator or full-time Civil Court judge.
• Schedule: sessions one or two evenings a week, or less in small towns, so hearing dates depend heavily on the local calendar.
• Commercial claims: businesses use the commercial claims part of the justice court with the same $3,000 cap; see commercial small claims.
• Collection: enforcement is through the county sheriff, not a city marshal. Expect a slower process and plan the asset search first; see collecting a small claims judgment.
• Records: to get a lien on real property, you obtain a transcript of judgment from the justice court and docket it with the county clerk; justice court judgments are not automatically docketed.

What a demand letter does here.

The $3,000 cap and the part-time calendar make the justice courts the place where a demand letter pays off most clearly. A letter can demand the full amount you are owed, including the part above the cap. It arrives in days, not on the court's next available evening. And in a town where the defendant's business depends on local reputation, a letter from an attorney stating that a claim will be filed in the town court and, if unpaid, enforced through the county sheriff is a concrete, credible threat that most people address.

The letter also does the work of a pre-hearing settlement conference, which small justice courts rarely hold: it prices the dispute and invites a response. If the response is payment, you are done in weeks. If it is a counter-offer, you negotiate from a stated position. If it is silence, you file with the letter as your first exhibit and the interest clock already running.

When the letter is not the right tool: very small amounts, where even a flat fee is disproportionate and the ten-dollar filing fee is the better spend; or a defendant who has moved with no forwarding address, where the first job is finding them, not writing to them. For a claim against a contractor, see also home improvement contract disputes; for a loan to a neighbor or relative, lent money and not paid back. The process from letter to court is on our flat-fee demand letters page, and the filing kit covers the court step.