Opinion
No. 570151/16.
05-12-2016
FIVE J'S AUTOMOTIVE, LTD., Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Conrad HUGHES, Defendant–Respondent.
Judgment (Eddie J. McShan, J.), entered May 7, 2013, affirmed, without costs.
Applying the narrow standard of review governing appeals in small claims actions (CCA 1807 ; see Williams v. Roper, 269 A.D.2d 125 [2000], lv dismissed 95 N.Y.2d 898 [2000] ), and giving due deference to the trial court's detailed findings of fact and credibility, we sustain the court's resolution of the property damage issues litigated below. The court, as factfinder, reasonably could have rejected the testimony of plaintiff's witness and credited defendant's testimony that plaintiff, a tow truck operator, improperly “hooked [defendant's vehicle] to its tow truck” and “dropped [it] from the fork of the tow truck,” resulting in documented damages to defendant's vehicle. The amount of the damages awarded on the counterclaim—the projected automotive repair costs specified in the lesser of the two repair estimates presented by defendant at trial—finds support in the record and achieved “substantial justice” between the parties (see CCA 1804 ; Guzman v. Ken Ben Indus., Ltd., 28 Misc.3d 131[A], 2010 N.Y. Slip Op 51289[U] [App Term, 1st Dept.2010] ).
I concur