Rosenberg, Calica & Birney LLP (William J. Birney, Esq.), for appellant. Madeline Joan Lavender, respondent pro se (no brief filed).

Appeal from a judgment of the District of Nassau County, Fourth District (Darlene D. Harris, J.), entered August 2, 2016. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $1,250.

ORDERED that the judgment is reversed, without costs, and the matter is remitted to the District Court for a new trial.

Plaintiff commenced this small claims action to recover the principal sum of $3,800, alleging that defendant unlawfully removed three maple trees from her property. At a nonjury trial, the parties presented conflicting evidence with respect to the removal of the trees. Plaintiff presented two estimates, one for $4,040 and one for $3,800, of the cost of removing and grinding the stumps, and supplying and planting three new maple trees. Following the trial, the District Court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $1,250.

In a small claims action, our review is limited to a determination of whether "substantial justice has . . . been done between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law" (UDCA 1807; see UDCA 1804; Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125 [2000]).

Upon the review of the record, this court cannot ascertain how the District Court arrived at an award in favor of plaintiff in the principal sum of $1,250. Consequently, it cannot be [*2]determined whether the District Court's judgment rendered substantial justice between the parties (see UDCA 1807).

Accordingly, the judgment is reversed and the matter is remitted to the District Court for a new trial.

MARANO, P.J., BRANDS and RUDERMAN, JJ., concur.