Bergen County Justice Center

Oh god if I never see this place again it will be too soon! Served about 2 months of jury duty here and I think I've sat around enough to last me a lifetime! :-P

There comes a time when some of us are summoned to do our civic duty as potential jurors in a civil case. Today was my day at the Bergen County Courthouse located in Hackensack, where I was able to see its interior beauty. Designed by architect James Reilly Gordon ca. 1911, this courthouse is a fine example of the Beaux Arts style, reflecting monuments of classical Rome and the Italian Renaissance. The building is capped by a copper-coated dome with a cupola and surmounted by a statue. The interior dome of the rotunda area of the courthouse is modeled after the Pantheon in Rome and topped with Tiffany-stained glass. Since this building is rich with history, if you get a chance to be inside, go to the 2nd floor and follow the sign to the rotunda.

GARBAGE. You’re better off remaining silent and never speaking to these people. They will ruin your time, good-faith, and honesty. These people will lie and cheat to your face and prolong everything to rack up everyone’s hard earned money. They’re the most worthless garbage. Protect your own self and family. Don’t trust this garbage. These judges are a joke.

This place is a disaster full of crooks and monsters - judges, prosecutors, lawyers. I spent five years in this "Justice center" watching how insanely corrupt it is here. They're all entangled with each other looking to ruin innocent people's lives. I will never look at courts and cops the same ever again - they're here to help someone but it sure isn't the right people.

I have a case for family matter for child support in the past 2013 since then the judge are racist. My ex son father is white and I’m Asian the judge didn’t do anything for my child support visitation right since I was paying the bump and he not even working. The court house need more ethical judge not only just white judge.

I have been dealing with a civil case for over a year now. There have been multiple reschedulings, and I have taken 4 days off for these proceedings but so far there has been 0 progress on my case. Each time I have showed up for a proceeding, I am told the staff cannot locate my documents so the whole case needs to be rescheduled. These documents were sent to a court staff member by e-mail, so I'm not sure why they can't just be reprinted but when I suggest such an option I am almost yelled at by someone so I just do as I'm told (last thing I want to do is jeopardize the status of my case that's been going on for so long). In addition, every time someone is supposed to give me a call back, I never get one back. Same thing with e-mails. When I call to follow up days later, someone different answers and I am given different instructions/information each time. It makes me wonder which instruction/information is or was correct.

Given the pandemic, I understand that courts are closed to the public and may not run as smoothly, but the incompetence of court staff and their unwillingness to help are unexplained. There doesn't seem to be a set system or a method of communication between offices and the Judge's chambers, and the court staff is very rude to anyone that calls with a question. This is unfair to every self represented litigant out there who may not be familiar with the court's procedures (also not made very clear on their website, which is rarely updated). Sadly, this review will not make a difference, but I really wish the court would set up a better system and kindly remind the court staff to respond or get back to self represented litigants who may be waiting for days to get a call or e-mail back.

The small claims court is run by bribery and the judges have Italian connections if you know what I mean where usually they are bribed or have friends as lawyers and will not even hear your case because they already know outcome since they have been bribed or have a good connection with a lawyer they know. This place is run by some agenda and bribery and needs to be cleaned up. Think about the hundreds of cases that were wrongly decided because of this bribery and friendship these judges have, it's all about the money.