Opinion
No. 2011–2418 Q C.
2014-10-29
Victor H. TARANTO, M.D., D.O., Respondent, v. Patrick ABOHWO, Appellant.
Present: WESTON, J.P., SOLOMON and ELLIOT, JJ.
Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Cheree A. Buggs, J.), entered July 26, 2011. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $1,800.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.
This action for services rendered and upon an account stated was brought by plaintiff, a physician, to recover the principal sum of $1,800 allegedly due for a surgical examination and consultation provided to defendant in the emergency room of Franklin Hospital, where defendant had presented himself on May 22, 2009. At a nonjury trial, plaintiff offered the notes from his surgical consultation with defendant on May 22, 2009, indicating that the consultation had been requested by the emergency room physician, as well as a document from the insurance company regarding the status of the claim for his services. The document indicated that defendant was covered under a group policy issued to a cardholder identified as “Abohwo Lesley O” (defendant's spouse); that the insurer had issued a check to “member” for services rendered on May 22, 2009, in the sum of $1,800, which was the amount plaintiff had billed the insurer; and that the check had been cashed by an unspecified person or entity. Plaintiff testified that he had not received such payment, and sought to recover the $1,800 from defendant. Defendant claimed that plaintiff had fabricated the documents submitted into evidence, and that it was the emergency room physician who had examined him rather than plaintiff. He further contended that it was plaintiff's responsibility to demonstrate why someone other than plaintiff had received the insurance payment. Following trial, the Civil Court found in favor of plaintiff. A judgment was entered awarding plaintiff the principal sum of $1,800.
In reviewing a determination made after a nonjury trial, the power of this court is as broad as that of the trial court, and this court may render the judgment it finds warranted by the facts, bearing in mind that the trial judge had the advantage of seeing the witnesses and hearing their testimony ( see Northern Westchester Professional Park Assoc. v. Town of Bedford, 60 N.Y.2d 492, 499 [1983]; Hamilton v. Blackwood, 85 A.D.3d 1116 [2011]; Zeltser v. Sacerdote, 52 A.D.3d 824, 826 [2008] ).
A physician or surgeon is entitled to recover for professional services rendered by him or her under an implied agreement by the patient to pay the reasonable value of the services ( see 83A N.Y. Jur 2d, Physicians, Surgeons, and Other Healers § 203). The record supports the Civil Court's determination that plaintiff demonstrated that he had examined and consulted with defendant, that defendant had accepted the services rendered, that plaintiff had expected to be compensated therefor, and that $1,800 was the reasonable value of the services performed ( see 22A N.Y. Jur 2d, Contracts § 598). Defendant offered no substantiation for his conclusory contention that the documents proffered by plaintiff had been fabricated.
Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.