Brancato v Brooks

[*1] Brancato v Brooks 2004 NY Slip Op 51688(U) Decided on December 22, 2004 Appellate Term, Second 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 This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.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 December 22, 2004
SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK
APPELLATE TERM: 9th and 10th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
PRESENT: December 22, 2004 SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK APPELLATE TERM : 9th and 10th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS PRESENT : McCABE, P.J., COVELLO and TANENBAUM, JJ.
2004-461 N C

THERESA BRANCATO, Appellant,

against

BARBRA K. BROOKS and BARBRA K. BROOKS, INC., Respondents.

Appeal by plaintiff from a small claims judgment of the District Court, Nassau County (H. Miller, J.), entered November 3, 2003, in favor of defendants dismissing the action.

Judgment unanimously affirmed without costs.

In September of 2002, plaintiff and Barbra K. Brooks signed a contract whereby defendant Barbra K. Brooks agreed to furnish plaintiff with at least ten social referral introductions over a one-year period. In conjunction with that contract, plaintiff also
signed a one-year image consulting contract whereby she would be provided assistance in the creation and acquisition of social skills and an improved self-image. Plaintiff eventually sought to recover damages for breach of contract, claiming that defendant did not furnish her with a sufficient number of introductions. Defendant disputed plaintiff's account of the number of introductions actually provided, and the court, after a trial, ultimately found that plaintiff, by her own actions, prevented defendant from providing the contracted for services.

A review of the record indicates that substantial justice was done between the parties in accordance with the rules and principles of substantive law (UDCA 1807). The deference which an appellate court normally accords to a trial court's credibility determinations "applies with greater force to judgments rendered in the Small Claims Part" (Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125, 126 [2000]). Moreover, a small claims judgment may not be reversed absent a showing that there is no support in the record for the court's conclusions, or that the court's determination is [*2]otherwise so clearly erroneous as to deny substantial justice (see Dourado v Jordan, 2002 NY Slip Op 40394[U] [App Term, 9th & 10th Jud Dists]; see also Blair v Five Points Shopping Plaza, 51 AD2d 167 [1976]).
Decision Date: December 22, 2004