Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Kings County (Genine D. Edwards, J.), entered October 12, 2007. The judgment, after a nonjury trial, awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $5,000.

Judgment modified by reducing the amount of the award to plaintiff to the principal sum of $1,521.91; as so modified, affirmed without costs.

In this small claims action, plaintiff, who had purchased a ticket from defendant for a flight from New York to Nigeria, seeks to recover damages for lost luggage. It is undisputed that plaintiff's luggage was lost. After a nonjury trial, the court awarded plaintiff the principal sum of $5,000.

In our view, the amount of $5,000 cannot be sustained since plaintiff presented no competent proof of the amount of his damages, such as the cost of the items, their age and their condition at the time the luggage was lost (see 36 NY Jur 2d, Damages § 86). However, defendant has conceded that it is liable for plaintiff's loss under the Montreal Convention (see Convention for International Carriage by Air art 3, May 28, 1999, reprinted in S Treaty Doc No. 106-45, 1999 WL 33292734, 1999 UST LEXIS 175) and that plaintiff should receive $1,521.91 for his lost luggage. Accordingly, the judgment is modified by reducing the amount of the judgment to the sum of $1,521.91.

Pesce, P.J., Weston Patterson and Steinhardt, JJ., concur. [*2]
Decision Date: February 06, 2009