Civil courts are not criminal courts. Instead, they will define who is at fault based on testimony. There is no jury, and the judge listens to both side of the issues, and make decisions then. What they say however, is final, and will not be able to changed unless there is evidence that a judge is biased. With that in mind, there is a conflict of interest when the judge knows one of the parties, and sides. With that said, every city will have multiple judges.
However, before going to civil court, there is an arbitrator. The arbitrator will attempt to negotiate with the parties involve to make for a fair outcome. This is designed to lessen the work load of the judges. With that said, this is usually the first choice of processing for civil cases.