Tag: Special Civil Part

Special Civil Part Court Officers are unsalaried independent contractors who are officers of the court.

They serve or execute process, writs, orders, executions, notices and warrants for removal in landlord/tenant eviction cases as ordered by the Court.

Their income consists of statutory fees paid by litigants for service of process issued by the Court, retention of a percentage of the money they collect pursuant to writs of execution, and fees for serving and executing warrants for removal in tenancy actions.[1]

New Jersey Statutes Annotated 22A:2-37.2 governs Superior Court Special Civil Part Court Officer fees in connection with various functions (both pre and post judgment). [2]

This statute entitles Special Civil Part Court Officers to a commission (referred to as “dollarage”) equal to 10% of every dollar collected on execution, writ of attachment or any order issued and assigned to that court officer when the writ “may be the effective cause in producing payment or settlement of a judgment or attachment.”

Although the court officer’s statutory commission (“dollarage”) is included as part of the total writ balance, it belongs to the court officer – not the judgment creditor. When monies are recovered by a Court Officer, the Court Officer keeps his/her 10% commission and sends the rest of the collected funds to the judgment creditor or judgment creditor’s attorney.

In some instances, accounts are resolved/settled with judgment debtors by the judgment creditor’s attorney after a writ of execution has been issued to a court officer. Indeed, writs of execution often prompt judgment debtors to contact the judgment creditor’s attorney in an effort to resolve such cases.

Because New Jersey law requires payment of the court officer’s commission whenever a writ of execution is the cause of a collection/settlement, the statutory 10% commission must be paid to a court officer whenever payment is received directly from a judgment debtor.

Court officers are also entitled to “mileage” – a fee for the distance traveled in serving or executing any process, writ, order, execution, notice or warrant. “Mileage for Special Civil Part Court Officers is calculated based on the distance between the courthouse to the center of the destination (town or location).” [3]

Special Civil Part Court Officers are paid mileage at the same rate as is set for State employees, rounded upward to the nearest dollar.[4]  

Effective July 1, 2019, the mileage rate for Special Civil Part Court Officers increased from $0.31 to $0.35 per mile.[5]

Mileage lists are published on the New Jersey Judiciary’s web page (njcourts.gov).[6]

---

1 N.J.S.A. §22A:2-37.2(c); Notice of Special Civil Part Court Officer Appointment Opportunity, Special Civil Part Essex County

[2] N.J.S.A. §22A:2-37.2(c) provides, in relevant part:

[T]he following fees for officers of the Special Civil Part shall be taxed in the costs and collected on execution, writ of attachment or order in the nature of any execution on any final judgment, or on a valid and subsisting levy of an execution or attachment which may be the effective cause in producing payment or settlement of a judgment or attachment:

(3) On every dollar collected on execution, writ of attachment, or any order:          $ 0.10.

[3] Notice to the Bar, “Special Civil Part – Revisions to the Special Civil Part Mileage Lists,” June 25, 2019.

[4] N.J.S.A. §22A:2-37.2(b)

[5] Notice to the Bar, “Special Civil Part – Revisions to the Special Civil Part Mileage Lists,” June 25, 2019.

[6] Mileage lists are also posted at this URL: https://www.njcourts.gov/forms/10537_scp_mileage_list.pdf.