Smith v. Knights Collision Experts Inc.

• Court: Appellate Terms of the Supreme Court of New York
• Decided: December 5, 2018
• Docket: 2018 NYSlipOp 51734(U)
• Status: Published

Opinion

Jeff Smith, Plaintiff-Appellant,

against

Knights Collision Experts Inc., Defendant-Respondent.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Verna L. Saunders, J.), entered November 16, 2016, which granted defendant's motion to dismiss the action at the close of plaintiff's case.

Per Curiam.

Judgment (Verna L. Saunders, J.), entered November 16, 2016, affirmed, without costs.

The trial court correctly dismissed the action at the close of plaintiff's case. Even affording plaintiff every favorable inference that reasonably could be drawn from the evidence adduced at trial (see Szczerbiak v Pilat, 90 NY2d 553, 556 [1997]), we agree that he failed to establish a prima facie case against defendant for alleged property damage to his vehicle. Despite being given ample opportunity to do so, plaintiff failed to present any competent evidence to establish that he owned the vehicle at issue or expended any monies for repairs.

We also take judicial notice of the fact that, subsequent to the entry of the judgment appealed from, plaintiff obtained a $2,726.99 recovery against the City of New York for the damages to the vehicle at issue in this case.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.

I concur I concur I concur
Decision Date: December 05, 2018