LAVENDER v. KAPLAN (2018)

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 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.