Appeal from a judgment of the City Court of Peekskill, Westchester County (William L. Maher, J.), entered March 10, 2005. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $5,000.

Judgment modified by vacating the award as against defendant John Pizzella and dismissing the complaint as to him, and by reducing the amount awarded against defendant Pizzella Brothers Inc. to the sum of $2,184; as so modified, affirmed without costs.

In this small claims action to recover damages caused by defendants' failure to install an overflow pipe in a dry well, we find that the trial court's determination of liability on the part of the corporate defendant contractor rendered substantial justice according to the rules and principles of substantive law (UCCA 1804, 1807; see Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125, 126 [2000]. However, damages should only have been awarded in the sum of the two paid bills submitted into evidence by plaintiff, totaling $2,184 (see UCCA 1804). Two estimates were required in order to prove damages for the unreplaced carpet (see UCCA 1804). The complaint is dismissed as to the individual defendant. The contract was entered into between the plaintiff and the corporate defendant and we find no basis to hold the individual defendant personally liable (see S. F. P. Realty Corp. v G. S. Rockaway Dev., 206 AD2d 417 [1994]; Ruti v Knapp, 193 AD2d 662 [1993]).

Rudolph, P.J., Angiolillo and Lippman, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: June 23, 2006