Legal Question in Construction Law in New Jersey

Re: small calims court

An appeal from a decision in Small Claims Court is possible but rarely economical. An appeal is appropriate only if the judge made an error of law or if the decision is manifestly against the weight of the facts. Appeals based on the second reason are almost never won.

An appeal from SCP is not a new trial; it is a review of the old trial on the record and the briefs. If you wanted to file and appeal, your first step would be to have the record of the proceedings transcribed by an official court reporter. You would then have to write a legal brief to explain to the Appellate Division exactly where the judge misinterpreted the law. You will pay for the transcript by the page and a $200 fee for filing the appeal plus a $300 deposit for court costs that might be assessed.

If the Appellate Division grants the appeal, the result is usually an order for a new trial in the same trial court. There, the trial judge (perhaps the same one) will hear the case again with the benefit of the Appellate Division's guidance on the law. The outcome of that second trial might be different but it might be the same.