[*1]
Feist v Pitta
2020 NY Slip Op 51558(U) [70 Misc 3d 132(A)]
Decided on December 24, 2020
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This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.


Decided on December 24, 2020
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, SECOND DEPARTMENT, 9th and 10th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS

PRESENT: : BRUCE E. TOLBERT, J.P., THOMAS A. ADAMS, JERRY GARGUILO, JJ
2019-1316 S C

Jane Feist, Respondent,

against

Kathleen Pitta and Rosario Pitta, Appellants.


Ahern & Ahern (Dennis P. Ahern of counsel), for appellants. Jane Feist, respondent pro se (no brief filed).

Appeal from a judgment of the District Court of Suffolk County, Sixth District (James P. Flanagan, J.), entered July 24, 2019. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $4,600.

ORDERED that the judgment is affirmed, without costs.

In this small claims action, plaintiff seeks to recover the principal sum of $5,000 based on defendants' sale to her of an allegedly defective used car. After a nonjury trial, the District Court awarded judgment in favor of plaintiff in the principal sum of $4,600.

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]). Furthermore, the determination of a trier of fact as to issues of credibility is given substantial deference, as a 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 Vizzari v State of New York, 184 AD2d 564 [1992]; Kincade v Kincade, 178 AD2d 510, 511 [1991]). This deference applies with greater force to judgments rendered in the Small Claims Part of the court (see Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d at 126).

Upon our review of the record, we find that the judgment rendered substantial justice between the parties (see UDCA 1804, 1807).

Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.

TOLBERT, J.P., ADAMS and GARGUILO, JJ., concur.


ENTER:


Paul Kenny


Chief Clerk


Decision Date: December 24, 2020