Opinion
No. 571180/23
02-14-2024
Gong Ming Chen, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. John Phillips and Wei Li, Defendants-Respondents.
Unpublished Opinion
PRESENT: Hagler, P.J., Brigantti, Perez, JJ.
Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (Emily Morales-Minerva, J.), entered on or about July 13, 2022, after inquest, in favor of defendants dismissing the complaint.
PER CURIAM.
Judgment (Emily Morales-Minerva, J.), entered on or about July 13, 2022, reversed, without costs, complaint reinstated and judgment entered in favor of plaintiff in the principal sum of $5,000.
Plaintiff commenced this action to recover the refundable sum of $5,000 that he advanced to defendants in exchange for a financial support affidavit for the benefit of plaintiff's son, who immigrated to the United States. Following an inquest, Civil Court dismissed the complaint on the ground that "plaintiff has not shown, by a preponderance of the evidence, damages in the amount of $5,000."
Upon review of the record, we find that plaintiff met his burden of setting forth a prima facie case as to damages in the sum of $5,000 (see Oparaji v 245-02 Merrick Blvd, LLC, 149 A.D.3d 1091, 1092 [2017]). Plaintiff's testimony and documentary evidence established that, pursuant to the parties' agreement, he deposited the sum of $5,000 into defendants' Bank of America account ending in 8736.