Opinion
December 22, 1995
Appeal from the Supreme Court, Erie County, Rogowski, J.
Present — Denman, P.J., Green, Fallon, Doerr and Boehm, JJ.
Judgment unanimously affirmed with costs. Memorandum: Summary judgment was properly granted to plaintiff because the issue whether defendant breached a contract for the sale of real property had already been determined on the merits in a prior Buffalo City Court action between the parties. Based upon our review of the record, we conclude that defendant had a full and fair opportunity to litigate the issue in the prior action (see, Weiss v Manfredi, 83 N.Y.2d 974, 976, rearg denied 84 N.Y.2d 848; Matter of Hee K. Choi v State of New York, 74 N.Y.2d 933, 936; Kaufman v Lilly Co., 65 N.Y.2d 449, 455). We reject defendant's argument that only "trivial stakes" were involved in the prior action, providing less incentive for defendant to litigate the liability issue vigorously (cf., Staatsburg Water Co. v Staatsburg Fire Dist., 72 N.Y.2d 147, 153). There is no reason to deny preclusive effect to a prior judgment merely because it was made by a court of limited jurisdiction; any other rule would undermine the judgments of those courts (see, Siegel, N Y Prac § 469, at 715 [2d ed]).
We decline to modify the bill of costs. Defendant's remedy is to move in County Court for judicial review of the bill of costs (see, CPLR 8404).