Appeal from a judgment of the Justice Court of the Village of Washingtonville, Orange County (Joseph G. McKay, J.), entered July 26, 2011. 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 from defendant, the insurer of his house, the sum of $2,700 for the replacement of a chimney. After a nonjury trial, the Justice Court 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 (UJCA 1804, 1807; see Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125, 126 [2000]).

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 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, [*2]269 AD2d at 126). As the record supports the Justice Court's determination that the loss fell within the exclusion provisions in the policy, which excluded coverage of damage resulting from wear and tear and deterioration, we find no reason to disturb the judgment.

Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

Nicolai, P.J., Iannacci and Tolbert, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: May 13, 2013