Originally Posted by studentff

Another possibility is making an addition to the witness list to force the judge to step aside and delay the trial, resulting in hassle/inconvenience for the defendant and possibly (in their mind) inducing him to take a plea deal. It's very possible that Phil will now have to eat a change fee on a nonrefundable plane ticket to attend the trial, etc.

In my (very limited) small claims experience, the defendant requested a continuance at the last possible minute for no apparent reason other than to cause me hassle.

Such delays seem to be an effective way to discourage out-of-state parties or parties with tight schedules from using the court system. It was well understood when I left my college town that the landlords would screw tentants re: deposits, etc. more if the former tenant had (graduated and) moved away than if they stayed local, because the remote tenant would have a much harder time fighting the landlord. I experienced this myself, moving out of apartments managed by the same company twice. Only on the last move-out, when I was moving 1000+ miles, did they screw me. But they and I both knew that they could make it very expensive for me to go after them in small claims court by using last-minute continuances to delay the hearing. (plus, the amount in dispute wasn't worth even the price of even 1 nonrefundable plane ticket)