| Rajapa v Windsor-Oxford Co. |
| 2015 NY Slip Op 51875(U) [50 Misc 3d 127(A)] |
| Decided on December 9, 2015 |
| Appellate Term, Second Department |
| Published by New York State Law Reporting Bureau pursuant to Judiciary Law § 431. |
| This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports. |
Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Maureen A. Healy, J.), entered October 22, 2013. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, dismissed the action.
ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs; and it is further,
ORDERED that the clerk of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court is directed to amend all the proceedings and papers in this matter to reflect defendant's name as Windsor-Oxford Co., rather than Winsor-Oxford Co.
Plaintiff commenced this small claims action to recover the principal sum of $1,000.26 from defendant, his landlord, for a rent payment of $1,000.26 made in 2002 which allegedly was never credited to his rent account. After a nonjury trial, the Civil Court dismissed the action, finding that plaintiff had failed to sustain his burden of establishing that he was not credited with the rental payment.
Upon a review of the record, we find that the Civil Court should have dismissed the action on other grounds. Plaintiff admitted at trial that, in 2004, he had brought the same claim in a prior small claims action in Civil Court, which had resulted in a judgment entered on March 3, 2005 in favor of defendant dismissing the action. Based on the judgment in the prior small claims action, the Civil Court should have granted defendant's motion to dismiss the instant action based on res judicata (see CCA 1808; Merrimack Mut. Fire Ins. Co. v Alan Feldman Plumbing & Heating Corp., 102 AD3d 754 [2013]; Farage v Bloom, 38 Misc 3d 146[A], 2013 NY Slip 50325[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2013]; Gerstman v Fountain Terrace Owners Corp., 31 Misc 3d 148[A], 2011 NY Slip Op 50988[U] [App Term, 2d, 11th & 13th Jud Dists 2011]).
As the record indicates that defendant's correct name is Windsor-Oxford Co., rather than Winsor-Oxford Co. as stated in some of the papers, the clerk of the Small Claims Part is directed to amend all the proceedings and papers in this matter to reflect defendant's correct name (see CPLR 5019 [a]), and the caption of the appeal has been amended accordingly.
Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.
Solomon, J.P., Weston and Elliot, JJ., concur.