Opinion
2009-1299 Q C.
Decided April 16, 2010.
Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Thomas D. Raffaele, J.), entered November 20, 2007. The judgment, insofar as appealed from, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $1,350 as against defendant Cosmopolitan Associates, LLC.
ORDERED that the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is reversed without costs and the action as against defendant Cosmopolitan Associates, LLC is dismissed.
PRESENT: PESCE, P.J., WESTON and STEINHARDT, JJ.
Plaintiff commenced this small claims action seeking to recover for damage to appliances in her rental apartment that, she claimed, was occasioned by an electrical failure followed by a subsequent electrical surge.
Following a nonjury trial, the Civil Court, insofar as relevant to this appeal, awarded plaintiff the sum of $1,350 as against defendant Cosmopolitan Associates, LLC (Cosmopolitan). The instant appeal by Cosmopolitan ensued. The only evidence plaintiff presented at trial in support of her damages was her own testimony that the cost of the affected appliances was between $1,300 and $1,400.
Even assuming, arguendo, that plaintiff established defendant's liability, plaintiff failed to provide adequate evidence of her damages. The record is unclear as to whether plaintiff claimed that her appliances were destroyed beyond repair, or were reparable. If plaintiff sought money for repairs, she was required to either submit expert testimony of the cost of repair or to comply with section 1804 of the New York City Civil Court Act, which specifies: "An itemized bill or invoice, receipted or marked paid, or two itemized estimates for services or repairs, are admissible in evidence and are prima facie evidence of the reasonable value and necessity of such services and repairs." In the case at bar, defendant correctly contends on appeal that plaintiff failed to present any such proof.
If plaintiff was alleging the destruction of her appliances, it was incumbent upon her to show that the appliances were beyond repair and to show "the actual value of such property taking into account the original cost and relative newness and the extent, if any, to which it has deteriorated or depreciated through use, age, decay or otherwise" ( Kodak v American Airlines , 9 Misc 3d 107 , 110 [App Term, 9th 10th Jud Dists 2005]; see also 36 NY Jur 2d, Damages § 82). Plaintiff similarly failed to present such evidence.
As plaintiff failed to provide adequate proof of her damages, we conclude that the judgment of the Civil Court, insofar as appealed from, awarding plaintiff the principal sum of $1,350 as against defendant Cosmopolitan Associates, LLC, failed to provide the parties with substantial justice according to the rules and principles of substantive law (CCA 1807). Accordingly, the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is reversed and the action as against defendant Cosmopolitan Associates, LLC is dismissed.
Pesce, P.J., Weston and Steinhardt, JJ., concur.