Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Anna Culley, J.), entered March 23, 2009. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, dismissed the action.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed without costs.

Plaintiff commenced this small claims action to recover the sum of $800, claiming that he was charged for unnecessary plumbing work done by defendant in repairing a leak in a pipe in plaintiff's home. The Civil Court held that plaintiff had failed to substantiate his claim and dismissed the action. Upon a review of the record, we find that the judgment 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]).

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). Furthermore, the determination of the trier of fact as to issues of credibility is given substantial deference, as the trial court's opportunity to observe and evaluate the testimony and demeanor of the witnesses affords it a better perspective from which to evaluate the credibility of the witnesses (see Vizzari v State of New York, 184 AD2d 564 [1992]; Kincade v Kincade, 178 AD2d 510, 511 [1991]). Plaintiff failed to present expert testimony to support his claim and, in any event, defendant adequately explained how all of his work was warranted. As we find that the record supports the Civil Court's determination, we affirm the judgment.

Pesce, P.J., Golia and Rios, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: July 29, 2010