Opinion
No. 570393/14.
2014-09-22
Alejandro COURTNEY, Plaintiff–Respondent, v. BETH ABRAHAM HEALTH SERVICES, Defendant–Appellant.
Defendant appeals from an order of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Anthony Cannataro, J.), entered February 27, 2014, which denied its motion for summary judgment dismissing the action.
Present: SHULMAN, J.P., HUNTER, JR., LING–COHAN, JJ. PER CURIAM.
Order (Anthony Cannataro, J.), entered February 27, 2014, affirmed, without costs.
This small claims action, seeking recovery in negligence for the alleged loss of and damage to plaintiff's personal effects while he was a residential patient in defendant's healthcare facility, is not ripe for summary dismissal. Defendant failed to demonstrate, at this juncture, that plaintiff's claim—including his assertion that defendant breached its statutory duty to provide plaintiff with “security in storing personal possessions” (Public Health Law § 2803–c[3][f] ) is untimely or without merit. Pre-trial motion practice is generally unavailable in Small Claims Court ( see Friedman v. Seward Park Hous. Corp., 167 Misc.2d 57, 58 [1995] ), and no basis is shown here to deviate from that proposition.
THIS CONSTITUTES THE DECISION AND ORDER OF THE COURT.
I concur.