Townsend v Eastchester Hgts., LP

[*1] Townsend v Eastchester Hgts., LP 2016 NY Slip Op 50005(U) Decided on January 4, 2016 Appellate Term, First Department Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.

Decided on January 4, 2016
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, FIRST DEPARTMENT
PRESENT: Lowe, III, P.J., Shulman, Ling-Cohan, JJ.
570966/15

Barbara Townsend, Plaintiff-Respondent, -

against

Eastchester Heights, LP, Defendant-Appellant.

Defendant appeals from a judgment of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Anthony Cannataro, J.), entered on or about May 6, 2015, in favor of plaintiff and awarding her damages in the principal sum of $670.

Per Curiam.

Judgment (Anthony Cannataro, J.), entered on or about May 6, 2015, modified to reduce plaintiff's damage award to the principal sum of $470; as modified, judgment affirmed, without costs.

The trial court achieved "substantial justice" consistent with substantive law principles (see CCA 1804) in resolving the liability aspect of this small claims action in plaintiff's favor, since the evidence permits a finding that plaintiff's household property was damaged as a result of a sewage backup in her apartment. Nor does the record disclose any evidentiary errors warranting reversal (see Ellis v Collegetown Plaza, 301 AD2d 758, 759 [2003]). However, the ends of "substantial justice" are best served by reducing plaintiff's recovery of damages to the principal sum of $470, an amount more commensurate with the property damage reflected by plaintiff's trial exhibits.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.

I concur I concur I concur
Decision Date: January 04, 2016