I'm curious to know if, in contesting a civil lawsuit (amount just over $5,000), it's advantageous to request a trial by jury or not. What I mean by "advanageous" is, will it cause the matter to become more complicated for the plaintiff to pursue (thereby maybe prompting them to drop it) and am I more likely to receive "mercy" if the matter is heard by a jury as opposed to not? Thank you.

The general rule is that if you have a sympathetic case, you want to be in front of a jury. If you have a case that is strong on the law, you want a judge.

Most of the time, defendants will be the ones that ask for a bench trial because they want to protect themselves froma runaway jury or from sympathy taking over.

Other than the above, a jury trial will cost more (I think its 95 bucks in NY) and might add an extra hour to an extra day to the trial (for selection of the jury).