Appeal from an order of the City Court of New Rochelle, Westchester County (John P. Colangelo, J.), entered April 4, 2005. The order, insofar as appealed from as limited by the brief, denied defendant's motion to vacate a small claims judgment entered against her pursuant to an arbitrator's award.

Order, insofar as appealed from, affirmed without costs.

Plaintiff commenced the instant small claims action to recover amounts due him for services rendered in constructing a patio for defendant. Defendant counterclaimed, contending that because plaintiff did not finish the job, she was required to spend additional amounts to have the patio completed. The parties signed a written consent
form, agreeing to submit the matter to arbitration. Following the arbitration hearing, the arbitrator awarded $2,500 plus costs to plaintiff and dismissed the counterclaim, and a small claims judgment was entered thereon. Subsequently, defendant moved to vacate the judgment. The motion was denied by the court below.

A judgment entered pursuant to an award of a small claims arbitrator is final and binding, and no appeal lies therefrom (see Brownstein v County of Westchester, Dept. of Parks, Recreation & Conservation, 51 AD2d 792 [1976]; Santos v Ortiz, 3 Misc 3d 137[A], 2004 NY Slip Op 50513[A] [App Term, 2d & 11th Jud Dists]). Although a party to a small claims arbitration proceeding may move to vacate the arbitrator's award if that party establishes a statutory ground for vacatur of the arbitration award (CPLR 7511 [b]), and then may appeal the denial of the motion, such review is limited to those grounds. An appellate court may not review the merits of a small claims arbitration under the guise of an appeal from an order denying a motion to vacate the arbitrator's award (Crocker v McMahon, NYLJ, Dec. 23, 1997 [App Term, [*2]2d & 11th Jud Dists]). Indeed, mistakes of law do not render an arbitration award subject to vacatur (see Postiglione v Paumere, 2003 NY Slip Op 51376[U] [App Term, 2d & 11th Jud Dists]; Molloy v Froyton, 148 Misc 2d 481 [App Term, 9th & 10th Jud Dists 1985]), and this principle extends to the arbitrator's power to fashion an appropriate remedy, even if the calculation of damages would be considered speculative if employed in litigation (see Weinstein-Korn-Miller, NY Civ Prac ¶ 7511.17a).

Most of defendant's assertions are based upon matters which are dehors the record and are therefore beyond our power to review (see Chimarios v Duhl, 152 AD2d 508 [1989]). Moreover, the record does not support defendant's conclusory allegations that the small claims arbitrator was not impartial (CPLR 7511 [b] [1] [ii]) or that he exceeded his power or imperfectly exercised his power (CPLR 7511 [b] [1] [iii]). Accordingly, we find that defendant failed to establish any of the statutory grounds for vacatur of the arbitration award or the judgment entered pursuant thereto. The court below therefore properly denied her motion to vacate.

Rudolph, P.J., Lippman and Molia, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: April 5, 2007