Appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Suffolk County, Sixth District (Patrick J. Barton, J.), entered June 16, 2005. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $1,438.23.

Judgment affirmed without costs.

In this small claims action in which plaintiff sought to recover for defendant's failure to properly repair his transmission, our review is limited to determining whether substantial justice was done between the parties "according to the rules and principles of substantive law" (UDCA 1807). Given this limited standard of review, the deference on appeal normally accorded a trial court's credibility determinations "applies with
greater force" in the context of a small claims action (Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d
125, 126 [2000]). Accordingly, a small claims judgment may not be overturned unless "the deviation from substantive law . . . [is] readily apparent and the court's determination clearly erroneous" (Forte v Bielecki, 118 AD2d 620, 621 [1986]). After hearing the testimony before it, the trial court apparently found plaintiff's version of the facts to be more credible than the defense witness' version, and there is sufficient evidence in the record to support that determination. Accordingly, there is no basis for this court to disturb the judgment of the trial court.

Rudolph, P.J., McCabe and Tanenbaum, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: February 2, 2007