Central Municipal Court of Bergen County (CMBC) — 71 Hudson Street, Hackensack

The Central Municipal Court of Bergen County (“CMBC”) is Bergen County’s countywide consolidated municipal court — established by ordinance under N.J.S.A. 2B:12-1(e) to hear matters filed by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department, the Bergen County Health Department, and matters referred to it by the vicinage Assignment Judge under the Rules of Court. It is not a “contracting towns” court and its jurisdiction is not limited to a specific list of Bergen municipalities: it is a county-level court whose docket is defined by which agency filed the charge and where the underlying offense occurred. Recent statistics show approximately 20,000 filings per year, making CMBC one of the largest municipal courts in the State. CMBC sits at 71 Hudson Street, Hackensack, NJ 07601-7076 and operates Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM – 4:30 PM, with active court sessions held Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday per the NJ Office of the Attorney General’s published schedule. CMBC is administratively distinct from the Hackensack Municipal Court at 215 State Street — same city, two different courts, two different judges, two different dockets. Avery & Avery, Esqs. has appeared at the Central Municipal Court of Bergen County throughout the firm’s fifty years of Bergen practice; Robert W. Avery’s fifteen-year tenure as Judge of the Ridgefield Municipal Court (1986–2000) included regular interaction with the countywide court’s caseload posture.

If you have a matter listed at the Central Municipal Court of Bergen County, call (201) 943-2445 for a free first consultation.

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Distinct from Hackensack Municipal Court

CMBC and the Hackensack Municipal Court are two different courts. Both sit in Hackensack but they are not the same forum:

The legacy averylaw-nj.com site occasionally conflated the two courts; the current site distinguishes them explicitly because the right court on a complaint is the first thing a client must confirm.

Where the Court Sits — Directions and Parking

CMBC’s address is 71 Hudson Street, Hackensack (not the Bergen County Justice Center at 10 Main Street, which is the Superior Court complex; the two are nearby but separate facilities).

Driving directions (per the official Bergen County source):

• From I-80: Take Exit 66, turn left onto Vreeland Avenue, then left onto Hudson Street. Follow Hudson Street to the Justice Center, then turn right onto Court Street. The parking deck entrance is at the corner of Court and River Streets.
• From the Garden State Parkway: Exit 159 to I-80 East, then proceed as above.
• From the NJ Turnpike (I-95): Take Route 46 West and proceed across the Hackensack River Bridge. After the bridge, bear right onto River Street and proceed to 55 Court Street.

Handicap parking: Available at the Bergen County Senior Center, 101–103 Hudson Street, Hackensack — one block south of the municipal court. Pickup and drop-off for handicapped individuals is at the driveway entrance of the Central Municipal Court.

Restricted parking: Parking for court attendees is not permitted on private properties adjacent to CMBC. Violators may be ticketed and towed.

What CMBC Hears

CMBC handles the standard NJ municipal-court docket for matters within its jurisdictional scope:

• DWI under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50 and refusal under N.J.S.A. 39:4-50.4a — particularly the volume of highway-stop DWIs generated by Sheriff’s Department patrols of Route 4, Route 17, the Garden State Parkway, and I-80 segments
• Title 39 traffic — speeding (39:4-98), careless and reckless driving (39:4-96, 39:4-97), suspended-license (39:3-40), leaving the scene
• Disorderly persons offenses (DP) under N.J.S.A. 2C:43-8 arising from Sheriff’s Department arrests on county property, in Bergen County parks, or on county roadways
• Petty disorderly persons offenses (PDP)
• Bergen County Health Department complaints — health-code violations, food-service citations
• Matters referred to CMBC by the vicinage Assignment Judge under the Rules of Court (recusal, conflict, administrative consolidation)
• Pre-trial motion practice — discovery motions under R. 7:7-7, suppression motions under R. 7:8-9

Why a Matter Routes to CMBC

A matter typically routes to the Central Municipal Court of Bergen County in one of four circumstances:

1. The charge was filed by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department. This is the largest single source of CMBC’s docket. Since the Bergen County Police Department merged into the Sheriff’s Department in 2015, the Sheriff’s Department has primary patrol responsibility for Bergen County highways (Route 4, Route 17, I-80 segments), parks, and county-owned property. Charges written by Sheriff’s officers route to CMBC by default rather than to a local borough’s municipal court.
2. The charge was filed by the Bergen County Health Department. Food-service and health-code matters under the County Health Department’s enforcement authority are heard at CMBC under N.J.S.A. 2B:12-1(e).
3. Recusal or conflict — the local judge or prosecutor has a conflict (the defendant is known to the court, the matter overlaps with a local civic role, etc.) and the Assignment Judge refers the matter to CMBC.
4. Administrative consolidation — the vicinage Assignment Judge orders a matter to CMBC for efficient disposition under the Rules of Court.

For a defendant, the practical effect is the same: the matter is heard by a CMBC judge applying NJ statewide municipal-court procedure to the underlying charges.

CMBC Practice Considerations

A few CMBC-specific practice considerations matter at intake:

Discovery posture

Discovery requests under R. 7:5 and R. 7:7-7 route through CMBC’s clerk’s office. Where the charge was filed by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department, the underlying record (incident report, body-cam, MVR, dispatch tape, Alcotest 7110 record) sits with the Sheriff’s Department records function. Where a local borough PD’s matter has been referred to CMBC by the Assignment Judge, the underlying record sits with that local PD and the discovery request may need to be coordinated across the originating town and CMBC.

State v. Chun discovery for DWI

For DWI matters at CMBC — including the high volume of highway-stop DWIs filed by the Sheriff’s Department — the standard State v. Chun, 194 N.J. 54 (2008) discovery package (Alcotest calibration record, AIR printout, .xml downloads, operator certifications) is the recurring pre-trial fight. The Sheriff’s Department’s records function holds the underlying material for charges its officers wrote.

Plea-negotiation pace

CMBC’s calendar volume (~20,000 filings/year per recent statistics) means the prosecutor’s window for substantive plea negotiation can be narrower than a smaller municipality’s. Early preparation — the kind that comes from a fee-quote-and-engagement conversation soon after the complaint is served — pays disproportionate returns.

Appeals to Bergen Superior Court Law Division

Appeals from any CMBC disposition route to Bergen Superior Court — Law Division for de novo trial on the record. The notice of appeal must be filed within 20 days of judgment.

How Avery & Avery Approaches CMBC Matters

We treat a CMBC matter the way we treat any Bergen municipal-court matter: full discovery review, suppression analysis where the facts support it, pre-trial conference preparation, and either negotiated disposition or trial as the merits dictate.

Robert W. Avery’s fifteen-year Ridgefield Municipal Court Judge tenure included presiding over the same statutes — N.J.S.A. 39:4-50, N.J.S.A. 2C:33-2, N.J.S.A. 2C:35-10, the Title 39 careless and reckless driving statutes — that the CMBC bench applies daily. The structural perspective is the firm’s distinctive credibility anchor at this court.

Cases Heard at CMBC — Where the Stop or Incident Happened

Because CMBC is a countywide court rather than a “contracting towns” court, any Bergen County stop, arrest, or citation written by the Bergen County Sheriff’s Department will route here regardless of which Bergen municipality the underlying offense occurred in. Common fact patterns include:

• Highway DWIs and traffic charges filed by Sheriff’s Department officers patrolling Route 4, Route 17, the Garden State Parkway, and I-80 segments (Fort Lee through Elmwood Park; Mahwah through North Arlington — the Sheriff’s Department patrols all 70 Bergen municipalities’ major roads and highways).
• Park-related and property-related offenses charged by the Sheriff’s Department in Bergen County parks (Van Saun, Saddle River, Overpeck, Darlington, Tenafly Nature Center, etc.) or on county property.
• County-Health-Department complaints filed against businesses operating anywhere in Bergen County.
• Locally-charged matters referred to CMBC by the Assignment Judge — recusal, calendar overflow, or conflict of interest.

The borough where the stop occurred (Ridgefield, Englewood, Fort Lee, Hackensack, Paramus, Teaneck, Bergenfield, Cliffside Park, Edgewater, Garfield, Lyndhurst, Lodi, the Pascack Valley boroughs, or any of Bergen’s other 70 municipalities) is not what determines whether CMBC has jurisdiction — the charging agency is.

Schedule a Free Consultation

For a free first consultation on a Central Municipal Court of Bergen County matter, call (201) 943-2445 or submit through the form. For deeper background on our municipal practice, see our municipal court page and Robert W. Avery’s bio.