Jorjikia v. City Pedicab, Inc.

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: August 3, 2016
• Docket: 2016 NYSlipOp 51206(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

Andrew Jorjikia, Respondent,

against

City Pedicab, Inc., Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Katherine A. Levine, J.), entered October 29, 2014. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $2,000.

ORDERED that the judgment is modified by reducing the amount of the award in favor of plaintiff to the principal sum of $869.15; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed, without costs.

In this small claims action, plaintiff seeks to recover for damage to his vehicle. At a nonjury trial, defendant conceded liability, and plaintiff submitted a single estimate in the sum of $1,709.20 from a repair shop to establish the amount of damages sustained. Following the trial, the Civil Court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $2,000.

On an appeal from a judgment in a small claims action, our review is limited to determining whether substantial justice has been done between the parties (see CCA 1807). A single written estimate is insufficient to establish the value of repairs in a small claims action (see CCA 1804). However, as defendant, in its brief on appeal, refers to an estimate that it obtained from a repair shop, representing the value of the repairs necessary to fix the damage sustained to plaintiff's vehicle, and contends that the judgment should be modified by reducing the amount of the award in favor of plaintiff to the principal sum of $869.15, we find that substantial justice (see CCA 1804, 1807) requires that the amount awarded plaintiff be reduced to the principal sum of $869.15.

Accordingly, the judgment is modified by reducing the amount of the award in favor of plaintiff to the principal sum of $869.15.

Pesce, P.J., Weston and Elliot, JJ., concur.

Decision Date: August 03, 2016