Opinion
No. 2014–2733 S C.
04-25-2016
44TH STREET PHOTO, INC., Respondent, v. Adam C. ABRAMS, Appellant.
Appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Suffolk County, Fifth District (Vincent J. Martorana, J.), entered May 6, 2014. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $5,000 and dismissed defendant's counterclaims.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.
Plaintiff commenced this commercial claims action to recover $5,000 in unpaid rent. Defendant counterclaimed to recover a brokerage fee for allegedly obtaining a new tenant for plaintiff, and attorney's fees for defending plaintiff's vice president on a series of criminal violations of local ordinances. After a nonjury trial, the District Court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $5,000 and dismissed defendant's counterclaims.
In a commercial claims action, our review is limited to a determination of whether “substantial justice has ... been done between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law” (UDCA 1807–A [a]; see UDCA 1804–A ; Ross v. Friedman, 269 A.D.2d 584 [2000] ; Williams v. Roper, 269 A.D.2d 125 [2000] ). Upon a review of the record, we find that defendant's arguments on appeal lack merit. We note that the doctrine of respondeat superior, applicable to tort liability, does not render a principal liable for its agent's criminal defense fees (cf. Rausman v. Baugh, 248 A.D.2d 8, 10 [1998] ), and a provision in a lease allowing a landlord to recover possession based upon the nonpayment of rent does not preclude the landlord from enforcing the lease by seeking unpaid rent in a plenary action (see Patchogue Assoc. v. Sears, Roebuck & Co., 37 Misc.3d 1 [App Term, 2d Dept, 9th & 10th Jud Dists 2012] ). As the court's determination is supported by the record, substantial justice has been done between the parties (see UDCA 1804–A, 1807–A ).
Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.
MARANO, P.J., and GARGUILO, J., concur.