Rule 4:7-7 Separate Trials; Separate Judgment

If a judge decides to hold separate trials for different parts of a case, the court can still issue a judgment on a counterclaim or cross-claim before the whole case is finished.

A counterclaim is when the person being sued sues back, and a cross-claim is when two parties on the same side of a lawsuit make claims against each other. This rule means a judge does not have to wait for every part of the case to be resolved before ruling on those claims.

This protects people from having to wait a long time for a decision that is ready to be made, just because other parts of the case are still ongoing.