Opinion
No. 2013–85KC.
2014-08-20
Clark J. SIMMONS, Respondent, v. Miriam STOLIN and Edwina Glasco, Appellants.
Present: PESCE, P.J., ALIOTTA and SOLOMON, JJ.
Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Carol Ruth Feinman, J.), entered December 13, 2012. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $240.
ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, without costs, and the action is dismissed.
In this small claims action, plaintiff seeks to recover the sum of $250 for water damage to his car. The damage occurred while the car was parked in the garage of Kingsview Homes, Inc., a residential cooperative with which plaintiff had entered into a parking agreement to park his car in a designated parking spot. After a nonjury trial, the Civil Court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $240.
Upon a review of the record, we find that defendants cannot be held liable for plaintiff's alleged damages. Defendants Edwina Glasco, the president of the co-op's board, and Miriam Stolin, the managing agent of the co-op, were acting on behalf of a disclosed principal, and thus, are not personally liable for any alleged breach of contract committed by their principal ( see Weinreb v. Stinchfield, 19 AD3d 482 [2005] ). Furthermore, the record does not establish that defendants had committed any tortious acts. Since plaintiff failed to allege a basis upon which to hold defendants personally liable, the action should have been dismissed ( see Ruti v. Knapp, 193 A.D.2d 662, 663 [1993] ). Consequently, the judgment failed to provide the parties with substantial justice according to the rules and principles of substantive law ( see CCA 1804, 1807; Ross v. Friedman, 269 A.D.2d 584 [2000]; Williams v. Roper, 269 A.D.2d 125, 126 [2000] ).
Accordingly, the judgment is reversed and the action is dismissed.