Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Jodi Orlow, J.), entered October 1, 2012. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $2,290.54.

ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, without costs, and the complaint is dismissed without prejudice to plaintiff seeking relief in a proper forum.

In this action, plaintiff seeks to recover money damages based upon his former business partner's breach of a partnership agreement. After a nonjury trial, the Civil Court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $2,290.54.

Partners are accountable to each other as fiduciaries; a partner holds, as trustee for the partnership, any profits derived by him or her from the conduct of the partnership
or from any use of its property (Partnership Law § 43). No action at law may be maintained by one partner against another until there has been an accounting, which is an equitable proceeding, except where the alleged wrong concerns a partnership transaction which may be determined without an examination of the partnership accounts (see 1056 Sherman Ave. Assoc. v Guyco Constr. Corp., 261 AD2d 519 [1999] Carlsen v Gross, 36 Misc 3d 128[A], 2009 NY Slip Op 52845[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2009] Rabinowitz v Gopalaswamy, 21 Misc 3d 140[A], 2008 NY Slip Op 52363[U] [App Term, 9th & 10th Jud Dists 2008]). A review of the record establishes that the claim here lies in equity, not at law, and, thus, the Civil Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction to entertain it (see CCA 202; Briscoe v White, 8 Misc 3d 1, 4 [App Term, 9th & 10th Jud Dists 2004]).

Accordingly, the judgment is reversed and the complaint is dismissed without prejudice to plaintiff seeking relief in a proper forum.

Aliotta, J.P., Pesce and Weston, JJ., concur.
Decision Date: March 21, 2014