Opinion
No. 570888/13.
2013-12-17
Yeme NGOTO, Plaintiff–Appellant, v. Ronald BARENBURG, Defendant–Respondent.
A judgment rendered in the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court will be sustained on appeal unless it is shown that “substantial justice has not been done between the parties according to the rules and principles of substantive law” (CCA 1807; see Williams v. Roper, 269 A.D.2d 125 [2000], lv dismissed 95 N.Y.2d 898 [2000] ). Applying that limited review standard here, and since the record supports the trial court's finding that plaintiff breached paragraph 11 of the parties' written agreement by denying defendant an opportunity to cure any alleged defects in the draft screenplay prepared by defendant, we find no basis to substitute our judgment for that of the trial court in dismissing the main action after a thorough hearing. In the absence of a cross appeal by defendant, we do not address the propriety of the court's disposition of defendant's counterclaim.