Polanco v. The City of New York

• Docket Number: 571110/23
• Decision Date: 27 December 2023
• Citation: 2023 NY Slip Op 51431 (U)
• Parties: Peter Polanco, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The City of New York, Defendant-Respondent.
• Court: New York Supreme Court — Appellate Term

2023 NY Slip Op 51431(U)

Peter Polanco, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
The City of New York, Defendant-Respondent.

No. 571110/23

Supreme Court of New York, First Department

December 27, 2023

Unpublished Opinion

Present: Hagler, P.J., Brigantti, Tisch, JJ.

PER CURIAM

Plaintiff appeals from an order of the Small Claims Part of the Civil Court of the City of New York, New York County (Aija Tingling, J.), entered June 5, 2023, which granted defendant's motion to dismiss this action pursuant to CPLR 3211(a)(7).

Order (Aija Tingling, J.), entered June 5, 2023, reversed, without costs, defendant's motion denied, and the action is reinstated.

Pretrial motions to dismiss for failure to state a cause of action should rarely, if ever, be entertained in Small Claims Court (see Friedman v Seward Park Hous. Corp., 167 Misc.2d 57 [App Term, 1st Dept 1995]; see also Rackowski v Araya, 152 A.D.3d 834, 836 [2017]) and no exception to the rule is warranted in this case. "The informality and convenience of small claims practice is necessarily frustrated by requiring pro se litigants to respond to formal motion practice under the CPLR prior to the hearing of their case" (Friedman v Seward Park Hous. Corp., 167 Misc.2d at 58). "Substantial justice" (CCA 1804) will best be rendered by a prompt trial, where defendant can assert its substantive arguments for dismissal (see Borisovski v Lamarre, 66 Misc.3d 138 [A], 2020 NY Slip Op 50080[U] [App Term, 1st Dept 2020]).

In reinstating the action, we express no view as to its ultimate outcome on the merits.