De los Santos v Felipe

[*1] De los Santos v Felipe 2013 NY Slip Op 50262(U) Decided on February 21, 2013 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 This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.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 February 21, 2013
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, FIRST DEPARTMENT
PRESENT: Lowe, III, P.J., Schoenfeld, Hunter, Jr., JJ
571000/12.

Simon De los Santos, Plaintiff-Appellant,

against

Fausto Felipe, José Hernández and My Barber Shop, Defendants-Respondents.

Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Donald A. Miles, J.), entered on or about September 8, 2011, after trial, in favor of defendants dismissing the action.

Per Curiam.

Judgment (Donald A. Miles, J.), entered on or about September 8, 2011, affirmed, without costs.

A judgment issued in the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court will be sustained on appeal unless it is shown that "substantial justice has not been done between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law" (CCA 1807; see Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125 [2000], lv dismissed 95 NY2d 898 [2000]). Applying that limited review standard here, and given the vague and confusing testimony offered by plaintiff, we find no basis to substitute our judgment for that of the trial court in dismissing the action. The court, as factfinder, reasonably could have rejected plaintiff's unsubstantiated account of how defendants (whether individually or as a group was not made clear by plaintiff) allegedly agreed to transport plaintiff's car overseas or caused damage to the car during plaintiff's absence.

THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
Decision Date: February 21, 2013