Appeal from a final judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Rudolph E. Greco, Jr., J.), entered February 23, 2009, and from an order of the same court dated April 23, 2009. The final judgment, insofar as appealed from, after a nonjury trial, awarded possession to landlords as against M & V Group, Inc. and Mohammad Saleh. The order dated April 23, 2009 denied a motion by M & V Group, Inc. and Mohammad Saleh to vacate the final judgment as against them and to dismiss the petition as against them.

ORDERED that the final judgment, insofar as appealed from, is modified by providing that the petition is dismissed as against Mohammad Saleh; as so modified, the final judgment, insofar as appealed from, is affirmed without costs; and it is further,

ORDERED that so much of the appeal as is from that part of the order which denied the branch of the motion that was by Mohammad Saleh seeking to vacate the final judgment as against him and to dismiss the petition as against him is dismissed as moot; and it is further,

ORDERED that the order, insofar as reviewed, is affirmed without costs.

Landlords commenced this commercial holdover proceeding alleging that the parties' five-year lease had expired. Insofar as is relevant to this appeal, as a defense, M & V Group, Inc. [*2]and Mohammad Saleh (appellants) asserted, among other things, that the parties had entered into a written 20-year extension of the lease. After a nonjury trial, at which appellants failed to produce the original or a true copy of the alleged extension agreement, the Civil Court found that appellants had failed to establish the existence of an agreement to extend the lease. A final judgment of possession was entered in favor of landlords on February 23, 2009. Appellants thereafter moved to vacate the final judgment and dismiss the petition as against them, which motion the Civil Court denied.

The decision of a 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 e.g. Claridge Gardens v Menotti, 160 AD2d 544 [1990]). 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 assess their credibility (see e.g. Vizzari v State of New York, 184 AD2d 564 [1992]; Kincade v Kincade, 178 AD2d 510 [1991]). In this proceeding, the Civil Court's determination that appellants failed to establish the existence of the alleged written 20-year extension agreement is amply supported by the record and so will not be disturbed on appeal.

However, the petition should have been dismissed as against Mohammad Saleh, as landlords produced no evidence that he was a tenant and he did not claim a possessory interest in the premises.

Appellants' remaining contentions were either waived or are meritless.

Weston, J.P., Golia and Rios, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: November 19, 2010