The Special Civil Part of the Superior Court is limited to cases where the damage claim does not exceed $15,000.  While it is a court where a litigant can go to obtain a quick resolution of a legal controversy without the expensive discovery process found in the Law Division of the Superior Court, if the award exceeds the $15,000 jurisdictional limit the excess amount will be forfeited.

In those cases, where a claimant files an action in the Special Civil Part grounded upon a violation of  New Jersey’s Consumer Fraud Statute (CFA), the question becomes whether the claimant’s attorney’s fees can be considered in determining the $15,000 cap on damages.  On this issue, the courts have concluded that reasonable attorney fees under the CFA are not to be considered damages and as a result cannot be contained by the $15,000 jurisdictional amount in the Special Civil Part.