Opinion
No. 570706/12.
2012-10-22
Sabina MANU, Plaintiff v. GERARD COURT ASSOCIATES, LLC, Defendant–Respondent.
Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Bronx County (Robert R. Reed, J .), entered on or about August 11, 2011, after trial, in favor of defendant dismissing the action.
Present: LOWE, III, P.J., SCHOENFELD, TORRES, JJ.
PER CURIAM.
Judgment (Robert R. Reed, J.), entered on or about August 11, 2011, reversed, without costs, and new trial ordered.
The trial court failed to comply with the specificity requirements of CPLR 4213(b) in rendering judgment in defendant's favor without setting forth its rationale or the facts essential to its determination. Inasmuch as this small claims action seeking the return of plaintiff's security deposit hinges in large measure on the proper interplay between the “Length of Lease” provisions of paragraph 2 of the main lease agreement and the notice provisions of paragraph 37 of the lease rider, and the parties' intentions with respect thereto, as well as a factual inquiry regarding the condition of the demised apartment premises at the time plaintiff vacated, matters which are not sufficiently developed on this record, a remand for a new trial is the appropriate remedy ( see Weckstein v. Breitbart, 111 A.D.2d 6 [1985] ).