[*1]
Feinstein v Mahoney
2023 NY Slip Op 51234(U) [81 Misc 3d 127(A)]
Decided on September 22, 2023
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This opinion is uncorrected and will not be published in the printed Official Reports.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 September 22, 2023
SUPREME COURT, APPELLATE TERM, SECOND DEPARTMENT, 2d, 11th and 13th JUDICIAL DISTRICTS

PRESENT: : WAVNY TOUSSAINT, P.J., CHEREÉ A. BUGGS, LISA S. OTTLEY, JJ
2022-778 Q C

Matthew D. Feinstein, Appellant,

against

John Mahoney, Respondent.


Matthew D. Feinstein, appellant pro se. John Mahoney, respondent pro se (no brief filed).

Appeal from a judgment of the Civil Court of the City of New York, Queens County (Claudia Lanzetta, J.), entered August 19, 2022. The judgment, insofar as appealed from, after a nonjury trial, dismissed plaintiff's cause of action.

ORDERED that the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is affirmed, without costs.

Plaintiff commenced this small claims action against his former landlord to recover the principal sum of $3,600, which included his security deposit, and punitive damages pursuant toGeneral Obligations Law § 7-108 (1-a) (g). After a nonjury trial, insofar as is relevant to this appeal, the Civil Court dismissed plaintiff's cause of action.

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" (CCA 1807; see CCA 1804; Ross v Friedman, 269 AD2d 584 [2000]; Williams v Roper, 269 AD2d 125, 126 [2006]).

Upon a review of the record, we find that the judgment, insofar as appealed from, rendered substantial justice (see CCA 1804, 1807).

Plaintiff's limited argument on appeal, that defendant's failure to comply with General Obligations Law § 7-108 (1-a) (e) forfeited his right to retain the security deposit, is without merit. General Obligations Law § 7-108 (1-a) (e) applies to non-rent-stabilized leases entered into on or after July 14, 2019 (see General Obligations Law § 7-108 [1]; Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, L 2019, ch 36, § 1, part M, § 29) and therefore does not apply to [*2]plaintiff's 2014 lease.

Accordingly, the judgment, insofar as appealed from, is affirmed.

TOUSSAINT, P.J., BUGGS and OTTLEY, JJ., concur.


ENTER:
Paul Kenny
Chief Clerk
Decision Date: September 22, 2023