Romero v North Shore Auto Repair, Inc.

[*1] Romero v North Shore Auto Repair, Inc. 2015 NY Slip Op 51128(U) Decided on July 27, 2015 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 This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.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 July 27, 2015
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, SECOND DEPARTMENT, 9th and 10th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS
PRESENT: : MARANO, P.J., IANNACCI and TOLBERT, JJ.
2013-1943 N C

Olivia Romero, Respondent,

against

North Shore Auto Repair, Inc., Appellant.

Appeal from a judgment of the City Court of Glen Cove, Nassau County (Joseph D. McCann, J.), entered April 1, 2013. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $1,300.

ORDERED that the judgment is modified by reducing the amount of the award to plaintiff to the principal sum of $82.10; as so modified, the judgment is affirmed, without costs.

In this small claims action, plaintiff seeks to recover the sum of $2,000 for damage to her vehicle caused by defendant's allegedly negligent repairs. After a nonjury trial, the City Court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $1,300.

The standard of review on an appeal of a small claims judgment is whether "substantial justice has . . . been done between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law" (UCCA 1807). Pursuant to UCCA 1804, plaintiff was required to submit an itemized bill or invoice, receipted or marked paid, or two itemized estimates, as evidence of the reasonable value and necessity of each of the repairs. However, plaintiff submitted only one invoice, which was not marked paid, for each of two separate repairs to her vehicle. Thus, plaintiff failed to properly establish damages. Consequently, the judgment failed to provide the parties with substantial justice according to the rules and principles of substantive law (UCCA 1804, 1807; see Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125, 126 [2000]). However, as defendant has conceded its liability upon the invoice for the sum of $82.10, substantial justice between the parties requires that plaintiff be awarded the principal sum of $82.10.

Accordingly, the judgment is modified by reducing the amount of the award to plaintiff to the principal sum of $82.10.

Marano, P.J., Iannacci and Tolbert, JJ., concur.

Decision Date: July 27, 2015