New York Small Claims Court: Filing, Hearings, and Appeals

New York Small Claims Court lets an individual sue another person or a business for money without a lawyer, with recovery capped at $10,000 in New York City Civil Court, $5,000 in city courts outside the city, and $3,000 in town and village courts.¹² The process is deliberately informal, but it still follows fixed rules about who can file, what qualifies, how the defendant is notified, how the hearing runs, and what you can do if you win or lose.

Who Can File and Who Can Be Sued

You must be at least 18 to file on your own. A parent or guardian files for anyone younger.³ The case has to be filed in a court that covers the area where the defendant lives, works, or does business.⁴

Small Claims Court is for individuals and sole proprietors. Corporations, LLCs, and partnerships cannot file a standard small claims case, though they can be sued in one. Businesses that want to sue have to use the Commercial Small Claims Part, described at the end of this article.³

You can sue local government bodies such as school districts, towns, villages, cities, and county agencies. You cannot sue the federal government or a New York State agency in Small Claims Court.³

What You Can Sue For

The court handles claims for money only. It cannot order someone to return property, do something, or stop doing something. If a neighbor is holding onto your laptop, Small Claims Court can only help if you’re asking for its dollar value.¹

Common cases involve breach of contract, property damage, unpaid debts, and security deposit disputes. One limit surprises people: you cannot sue for pain and suffering in Small Claims Court, even when the underlying incident caused a physical injury.³

You also can’t split a larger dispute into two smaller cases to fit under the cap. Damages of $12,000 cannot be filed as a $10,000 case and a $2,000 case on the same facts.¹ If your loss exceeds the cap, you can either voluntarily reduce the claim to fit (permanently giving up the excess) or file in a higher court. New York City Civil Court hears cases up to $50,000.⁵ City courts outside the city have civil jurisdiction up to $15,000.

Filing Deadlines

Every claim has a statute of limitations, and once it runs, the court will not hear the case no matter how strong it is. The deadlines that come up most often:

Breach of contract for the sale of goods: four years from the breach.⁶
Property damage: three years from the incident.⁷
Personal injury (negligence, slip and fall, car accidents): three years from the accident.⁷
Civil assault or battery: one year from the act.⁷

The clock generally runs from the date of the harm, not the date you discovered it. For sale-of-goods contracts, the parties can agree in advance to shorten the limitations period to as little as one year, but they cannot lengthen it.⁶

How to File

You start at the court clerk’s office. Bring your name and address, the defendant’s name and address (including a residence, workplace, or business location), the dollar amount you’re claiming, and a short account of what happened. The clerk writes your statement onto a short form and enters it in the small claims docket.⁸

You don’t need to bring evidence at filing, but start collecting it right away. Contracts, receipts, photos of damage, and written messages carry most small claims cases. If the defendant is a business, look up the exact legal name on the New York Department of State’s entity search before you file.⁹ Suing the wrong entity name is one of the quickest ways to get a case tossed.

Where to File

Choose a court covering an address where the defendant lives, works, or has a place of business. In New York City, small claims go to the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court in the appropriate borough.¹⁰ Outside the city, you can file in any city court in the county where the defendant has a connection, or in the specific town or village court where the defendant is located.²

Filing Fees

In New York City and other city courts, the fee is $15 for claims of $1,000 or less and $20 for claims above $1,000.¹¹ Town and village courts use the same statutory schedule. The fee covers the court’s mailing of notice to the defendant.

If you can’t afford the fee, you can ask the court to waive it by filing a sworn statement of your income, assets, and financial circumstances. The court has discretion to waive costs, fees, and expenses for anyone without sufficient means to pay.¹²

Language Access

Free court interpreters are available. Contact the clerk’s office as early as possible, or call the Office of Court Interpreting Services at (646) 386-5670. Sign language interpreters are available at no cost for people who are deaf or hard of hearing.¹³

How the Defendant Is Notified

The court mails the claim to the defendant by both first-class and certified mail. If the certified piece goes unclaimed but the first-class piece is not returned as undeliverable within 21 days, the defendant is presumed to have received notice.⁸

If both mailings fail, you’ll need personal service, meaning a process server or another adult who is not a party to the case hand-delivers the papers. Watch the clock here: if service isn’t completed within four months of filing, the case is dismissed without prejudice.⁴ You can refile, but you pay the fee again and start over. If the defendant is hard to reach, switch to personal service well before month three.

The Hearing

Arbitrator or Judge

When both sides show up ready to proceed, the case usually goes to an arbitrator instead of a judge. Arbitrators are experienced attorneys trained to hear small claims, and cases in front of them move faster because more arbitrators are on hand.

Either party can ask for a judge, but there’s a tradeoff worth understanding before you decide. Arbitrator decisions cannot be appealed. Judge decisions can be, within narrow limits.¹⁴ If preserving appeal rights matters, ask for a judge at the start and expect a longer wait.

Presenting Your Case

Hearings are informal. There’s no formal discovery and no pre-trial motion practice. You tell the arbitrator or judge what happened, explain why the defendant owes you money, and walk through your documents. Bring originals of contracts, receipts, photos, messages, and written estimates, organized so you can present them in order.

Witnesses with firsthand knowledge help. They usually have to appear in person unless the judge accepts a written statement. If a witness won’t come voluntarily, you can ask the court to issue a subpoena. Expert witnesses cannot be compelled to testify by subpoena.¹⁵

The defendant has the same right to present evidence and call witnesses. If one side doesn’t appear, the court can enter a default judgment against the absent party.¹⁶

Counterclaims

The defendant can file a counterclaim against you for money. In New York City, a counterclaim cannot exceed $10,000 and must be for money only. Defendants are expected to file within five days of receiving notice, paying a fee and mailing costs, though they can also raise a counterclaim on the hearing date by saying “application” when the case is called. If a same-day counterclaim catches you unprepared, the judge may postpone the hearing so you can respond.¹⁷

Appeals

Appeals in small claims are narrow. An arbitrator’s decision cannot be appealed at all.¹⁴ A judge’s decision can be, but the appellate court does not retry the case or hear new evidence. It reviews only whether the law was correctly applied and whether “substantial justice” was done. Most small claims decisions are affirmed on appeal, and reversals are limited to judgments that clearly deviate from the law.¹⁸ Appeals also carry their own costs.

Collecting a Judgment

Winning and collecting are separate problems. The court does not collect for you. If the defendant doesn’t pay, enforcement is your job.

Finding the Money

Before you can garnish wages or hit a bank account, you may need to locate the defendant’s assets. New York allows you to serve an information subpoena on the defendant or a third party such as a bank. The subpoena must include written questions and a prepaid return envelope, and the recipient has seven days to respond in writing under oath.¹⁹ If the subpoena goes to someone other than the debtor, it must include a signed certification stating you have a reasonable belief the recipient has relevant information. Without that certification, the subpoena is void.

Wage Garnishment

An income execution tells the defendant’s employer to withhold pay and send it to you. The standard withholding is 10% of gross earnings. The amount withheld cannot exceed 25% of disposable earnings for the week, or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 30 times the applicable minimum wage, whichever is less.²⁰ If the debtor’s pay falls below that minimum wage threshold, nothing can be garnished.

Liens and Bank Levies

You can place a lien on the defendant’s real property, which blocks a sale or refinance until the judgment is paid. A bank levy lets an enforcement officer seize funds from the defendant’s account, though you’ll need the bank’s name and address. The back of a cancelled check from a prior transaction with the defendant often shows that information.²¹

Other Consequences

When the underlying claim involved the defendant’s ownership or operation of a motor vehicle, the court can suspend their registration or driver’s license. Business licenses and permits can be revoked, suspended, or denied renewal. Cases involving fraudulent or illegal business practices can be referred to the State Attorney General for investigation.²¹

If You Missed the Hearing and Lost by Default

A default judgment entered because you didn’t appear can be vacated, which cancels it and gives you a new hearing date. Two grounds come up most often.

The first is excusable default. You must show both a reasonable excuse for missing court and a legitimate defense to the claim. If you received a copy of the judgment, you have up to one year from its date to ask. If you were never sent a copy, that one-year limit does not apply.²²

The second is bad service. If you were never properly served with the original claim, there’s no time limit on asking to vacate the judgment, and you don’t need any other reason. The court may set a separate hearing where you prove the service was defective.²²

Ask the clerk for an Order to Show Cause form. Explain why the judgment should be vacated, get it signed by a judge, serve the signed order on the other side, and appear on the return date.

Commercial Small Claims for Businesses

Corporations, LLCs, partnerships, and associations that need to sue for money use the Commercial Small Claims Part, not regular Small Claims Court. The cap is $5,000 and cases must be filed in a city court. Town and village courts do not handle commercial small claims.³

The business must have its principal office in New York State, and no entity can file more than five commercial small claims statewide per calendar month. For consumer transactions, the business must send a demand letter to the defendant at least 10 days but no more than 180 days before filing, and certify that the letter was sent. Municipal and public benefit corporations are exceptions and can file in regular Small Claims Court.³

1
NYCOURTS.GOV. In General – NY SmallClaims
2
New York State Unified Court System. A Guide to Small Claims and Commercial Small Claims in the NYS City, Town and Village Courts
3
NEW YORK STATE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM. A Guide to Small Claims and Commercial Small Claims
4
Cornell Law School. NY Comp Codes R and Regs Tit 22 214.10 – Small Claims Procedure
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NYCOURTS.GOV. In General – NyCivil
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New York State Senate. New York Uniform Commercial Code Law 2-725 – Statute of Limitations in Contracts for Sale
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NYCourts.gov. Statute of Limitations Chart
8
NYCOURTS.GOV. Civil Court Act Section 1803
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New York Department of State. Division of Corporations Entity Search
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NYCOURTS.GOV. New York City Small Claims Court
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N.Y. State Courts. Filing Fees – NY State Courts
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NYCOURTS.GOV. Appeals – NY SmallClaims
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NYCOURTS.GOV. Subpoenas
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New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 3215 – Default Judgment
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NYCOURTS.GOV. Counterclaims
18
NYCOURTS.GOV. Small Claims Appeals
19
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law Rule 5224 – Subpoena Procedure
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New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 5231 – Income Execution
21
NYCOURTS.GOV. Collecting the Judgment – NY SmallClaims
22
NY CourtHelp – Unified Court System. Vacating a Default Judgment