Claimant Abdikadir Ismail filed the instant small claims on January 13, 2023, against Defendant Father and Sons Logistics LLC in the amount of $4,900 because he "did a work and he didn't paid [sic] me my money." The Defendant filed a counterclaim on March 8, 2023, against Claimant in the amount of $2,624 for, among other reasons, "$4,900 worth of damages done to the tractor and was late with the delivery, thus causing the produce to decay" which takes into consideration the "$2,275.60 [which] was taken from Mr. Ismail's paycheck." The parties waived an adjournment and consented to have the matter proceed to trial on March 10, 2023.

The Claimant essentially testified that he performed work as a contract truck driver for the Defendant and was not paid in the amount of $4,900. The Defendant-counterclaimant rebutted the Claimant-contractor's testimony by showing that the Defendant damages by the Claimant's negligent work and deducted $2,275.60 from the Claimant's pay. The Defendant also submitted a copy of the contract and argued that the contract allows the Defendant-counterclaimant to recover for damages done by the Claimant-contractor. The Defendant-counterclaimant submitted two invoices: one for $1,732.51 and another for $4,788.81 which were for the recovery and redelivery of the tractor trailer and load. The Defendant-counterclaim also submitted a retainer agreement for an attorney in the amount of $2,000 but there is no proof it was paid. The Claimant denied signing the contract.

It seems the Defendant-counterclaimant came to his request for relief by using $4,900 as [*2]a rough starting point because the claimed amount of $2,624.40 is what is leftover after subtracting the $2,275.60 from the Claimant's check. However, aside from the attorney's invoices, the towing and redelivery invoices total $6,521.32. After deducting the $2,275.60 from the Claimant's check, it would leave the Defendant-counterclaimant with $4,245.72 unreimbursed expenses which is substantially more than the relief requested in the counterclaim.

The Claimant was ticketed for, among other things, "DRIVING A CMV WHILE DISQUALIFIED, SUSPENDED SAFETY-RELATED OR UNKNOWN REASON AND IN THE STATE OF DRIVERS LICENSE ISSUANCE. SUSPENDED NY DRIVERS LICENSES." The Claimant was obligated to notify his employer the next business day of any license suspension, revocation or cancelation as evidenced in the Certification of Compliance with Driver License Requirements executed on January 1, 2023. It is undisputed that the Claimant failed to notify the Defendant-counterclaimant that his license was suspended. This suspension, led to the Claimant being unable to perform as agreed under the contract which left the Defendant-counterclaimant with a tractor trailer on the side of the road. Paragraph 4(b) of the contract gives the Defendant-counterclaimant "the right to transfer the cargo and make delivery, deducting such additional expense from Contractor's compensation."

The Court must decide this matter "in such manner as to do substantial justice between the parties according to the rules of substantive law" (UCCA § 1804).

The Court has listened to the parties, assessed their credibility, reviewed the evidence, assigned the evidence the appropriate weight, and now finds that the Claimant breached the contract by failing to maintain the proper license which caused consequential damages to the Defendant-counterclaimant. Although proof was submitted which would put the Defendant-counterclaimant at $4,788.81 in unreimbursed damages, the counterclaim was only seeking $2,624.40. As the Claimant had no notice for the increased damages which were offered at the trial, the Court finds that judgment is best made in the amount of $2,624.40 against the Claimant in favor of the Defendant-counterclaimant.

This constitutes the Decision and Order of the court.