Charles v. CY Empire Realty

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: October 18, 2019
• Docket: 2019 NYSlipOp 51706(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

Theodora Charles, Appellant,

against

CY Empire Realty, Respondent.

Theodora Charles, appellant pro se. Novick, Edelstein, Pomerantz. P.C., for respondent (no brief filed).

Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Michael Gerstein, J.), entered December 13, 2017. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, dismissed the action.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff commenced this small claims action to recover the sum of $5,000, alleging that defendant's failure to provide proper repairs to her apartment had caused damage to her personal property. After a nonjury trial, the Civil Court dismissed the action.

In a small claims action, our review is limited to a determination of whether "substantial justice has . . . been done between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law" (CCA 1807; see CCA 1804; Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125 [2000]). Furthermore, the determination of a trier of fact as to issues of credibility is given substantial deference, as a trial court's opportunity to observe and evaluate the testimony and demeanor of the witnesses affords it a better perspective from which to assess their credibility (see Vizzari v State of New York, 184 AD2d 564 [1992]; Kincade v Kincade, 178 AD2d 510, 511 [1991]). This deference applies with greater force to judgments rendered in the Small Claims Part of the court (see Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d at 126).

We find that the court's determination is supported by the record and that the judgment [*2]provided the parties with substantial justice according to the rules and principles of substantive law (see CCA 1804, 1807).

Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

PESCE, P.J., WESTON and ELLIOT, JJ., concur.

ENTER:
Paul Kenny
Chief Clerk
Decision Date: October 18, 2019