Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Richard Velasquez, J.), entered September 10, 2008. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, dismissed the action.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed without costs.

In this small claims action, plaintiff seeks to recover the sum of $500 from defendant, his former employer. Upon a view of the record, we find that the trial court's determination in favor of defendant provided the parties with substantial justice according to the rules and principles of substantive law (CCA 1804, 1807; see Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125, 126 [2000]). In a bench trial, the decision of the fact-finding court should not be disturbed upon appeal unless it is obvious that the court's conclusions could not be reached under any fair interpretation of the evidence (see Claridge Gardens v Menotti, 160 AD2d 544 [1990]). This standard applies with greater force to judgments rendered in the Small Claims Part of the court (see Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d at 126). Upon the record presented, we find no basis to disturb the determination of the Civil Court.

Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

Pesce, P.J., Weston and Rios, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: January 29, 2010