A Request for Judicial Intervention is the form that gets a judge assigned to your case in New York Supreme Court. Buying an index number opens the case on paper, but no judge will touch it until someone files an RJI on form UCS-840 and pays the $95 fee. Once that happens, the court randomly assigns a single judge who then handles the case through trial.
When You Have to File One
If no judge has been assigned yet, the clerk will not accept certain filings unless an RJI comes with them. Those triggering filings are:1New York State Unified Court System. 22 NYCRR 202.6 – Request for Judicial Intervention
- A notice of motion or cross-motion.
- An order to show cause or emergency application.
- A notice of petition starting a special proceeding.
- A note of issue certifying the case is ready for trial.
- A request for a preliminary conference.
- A statement of net worth in a matrimonial case.
- A notice of medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice action.
Any party can also file an RJI at any time after the other side has been served, even without one of these triggers. Some attorneys file early to lock in a judge and get discovery moving; others wait until a real dispute surfaces. Either approach works. But once the court actually needs to do something, filing the RJI is not optional.
Filling Out Form UCS-840
The RJI uses a standardized fillable PDF called UCS-840, available on the New York State Unified Court System website.2New York State Unified Court System. Request for Judicial Intervention (UCS-840) The form tells the clerk how to route your case.
Start with the index number and county, exactly as they appear on your original filing. The clerk uses these to link the RJI to the existing file, so any mismatch creates problems. Next comes the caption. List every plaintiff and defendant precisely as they appear on the summons or complaint. A misspelling or an omitted party can snarl later filings.
Then select the nature of the action from the categories on the form: contract, tort, matrimonial, real property, commercial, and others. The classification matters because certain case types route to specialized parts. A business dispute worth $500,000 or more, for instance, may qualify for the Commercial Division, which has its own procedures. Picking the wrong category does not destroy your case, but it can cost you time in a reassignment.
The most overlooked section is related-case disclosure. If any other lawsuit involves the same parties, overlapping facts, or similar legal issues, you have to list it along with its index number and assigned judge. This is how the court avoids two judges issuing conflicting orders on the same underlying dispute. Skipping the section, or filling it out carelessly, creates problems that are much harder to unwind after a judge is assigned.
Where to File, Fees, and Service
Where to File
In counties that use the New York State Courts Electronic Filing system (NYSCEF), you file the RJI online through that portal.3New York State Unified Court System. 22 NYCRR 202.5-b – Electronic Filing in Supreme Court Where electronic filing is not yet available, you file a paper RJI in duplicate at the County Clerk’s office.
Fees
The RJI itself costs $95. That fee is set by statute and does not change with the type of case. On top of it, CPLR 8020 charges $45 for each motion or cross-motion filed in the case and another $30 when you later file a note of issue to put the case on the trial calendar. No additional calendar fee applies beyond those.4New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 8020 – County Clerk Fees
Pay by credit card through NYSCEF, or by check or cash at the clerk’s window for paper filings. If payment is missing or short, the clerk will reject the filing. No judge gets assigned until you resubmit with the correct amount.
Service on Other Parties
You have to submit the RJI with proof that you served it on every other party who has appeared in the case. The one exception is an emergency application made without notice to the other side, where proof of service is not required.1New York State Unified Court System. 22 NYCRR 202.6 – Request for Judicial Intervention In NYSCEF cases, the system sends electronic notifications to all registered parties automatically. For paper filings, you arrange service yourself and file the affidavit of service with the RJI.
If You Can’t Afford the Fee
CPLR 1101 lets you ask the court to waive costs, fees, and expenses. The motion needs a sworn statement describing your income, assets, any real property you own, and why you lack sufficient means to pay. The court will also want enough facts about the merits of your case to confirm it is not frivolous.5New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 1101 – Motion to Waive Costs, Fees, and Expenses
If the application is denied, you get 120 days to pay the fee before the case is dismissed. No motion is needed at all if you are represented by a legal aid society, a legal services organization, or a private attorney working under one of those organizations. In that situation, the attorney files a certification that the client has been determined unable to pay, and all filing and service fees are automatically waived.5New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 1101 – Motion to Waive Costs, Fees, and Expenses CPLR 8020 separately prohibits any fee for a motion seeking poor-person status.4New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules 8020 – County Clerk Fees
Matters That Pay No RJI Fee
Some proceedings require an RJI but no fee. These include:1New York State Unified Court System. 22 NYCRR 202.6 – Request for Judicial Intervention
- Change of name or sex designation applications.
- Habeas corpus proceedings where the person seeking relief is institutionalized.
- Mental Hygiene Law proceedings for involuntary retention or assisted outpatient treatment.
- Petitions to sell or finance religious or nonprofit property.
- Applications to vacate a judgment because of bankruptcy.
- Motions for emergency surgery authorization.
- Appeals to county court from lower civil courts.
- Applications for out-of-state discovery assistance.
- Extreme risk protection orders.
Within New York City, uncontested divorces, annulments, and separations also qualify for fee-free RJI filing.
What Happens After You File
Once the clerk processes the RJI and the fee clears, the court’s administrative staff runs the random assignment and notifies all parties which judge has been selected. From that point, the assigned judge controls the pace of the case.
If no one has already asked for a preliminary conference, the court will order one within 45 days of the RJI filing. That conference is where the judge and the parties set a discovery schedule, lock in deadlines for depositions and document exchanges, and flag any anticipated motions.6New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 22 NYCRR 202.12 – Preliminary Conference Everything before it is paperwork; the preliminary conference is where active litigation starts.
If the RJI was filed with a motion or order to show cause, the assigned judge handles that application on the regular briefing schedule. Emergency applications get immediate attention, which is why the RJI has to accompany them in the first place.
Fixing a Mistake on a Filed RJI
Errors on a filed RJI are common, and how you fix them depends on what went wrong. The most consequential mistake involves the related-case disclosure. If you failed to list a related case, or another party believes you incorrectly designated cases as related, the issue goes to the assigned judge. The judge can send the case back for random reassignment or order a transfer if the original assignment was skewed by the error.7New York State Unified Court System. RJIs and Assignments
A similar problem comes up when a case belongs in the Commercial Division but the filer did not check the commercial designation. Any party, or even the assigned non-Commercial Division judge, can apply to the Administrative Judge for a transfer into the Division. Cases involving the City of New York sometimes trigger reassignment when the City’s involvement was unclear at filing and the original assignment turned out to be incorrect.7New York State Unified Court System. RJIs and Assignments
None of these corrections happen automatically. Someone has to flag the problem, usually by letter or motion to the assigned judge. The sooner you catch a mistake, the less damage it does. Discovering a related-case error after months of litigation can mean starting over with a new judge and re-arguing motions already decided.
If You Never File an RJI
A case without an RJI has no judge, no discovery schedule, and no path toward trial. It sits in the clerk’s files. For a plaintiff, that is dangerous. Under CPLR 3216, once the parties have joined issue, at least a year has passed, and the other side serves a 90-day written demand by certified mail requiring you to file a note of issue, the court can dismiss the case if that deadline passes without action. The dismissal is not on the merits, so you could theoretically refile, but by the time it comes to that, the statute of limitations has usually run.8FindLaw. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Rule 3216 – Want of Prosecution
Defendants have less urgency because the plaintiff carries the burden of moving the case forward, but a defendant who files a counterclaim and then never seeks judicial intervention faces the same risk of dismissal for neglect of that counterclaim. Once your case actually needs a judge, file the RJI promptly. The $95 fee is trivial compared with losing the case by default.