“SUBSTANTIAL JUSTICE” IS ACHIEVED BY HAVING A "PROMPT TRIAL"
After the New York Count Civil Court granted the City’s motion to dismiss his small claims case, PP appealed to Appellate Term, First Department.
On its review, the appellate court noted that motion practice in small claims cases “should rarely, if ever, be entertained.” It noted that the “’informality and convenience of small claims practice” would be “frustrated” if unrepresented litigants were expected to respond to “formal motion practice.”
Because it thought “’substantial justice’” would “best be rendered by a prompt trial,” where the City could raise its defenses to PP’s claims, the AT1 reinstated the dispute.
That will likely be trying.
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DECISION