National Arbitration & Mediation, LLC v. 875 Turnpike Realty, LLC

National Arbitration and Mediation, LLC, Respondent, against 875 Turnpike Realty, LLC, Formerly Known as Shawn Elliott's Luxury Homes and Estates, LLC, Defendant, Umadevi Chalasani, Appellant. Umadevi Chalasani, appellant pro se. 875 Turnpike Realty, LLC, f/k/a Shawn Elliott's Luxury Homes and Estates, LLC, defendant pro se (no brief filed). NAM General Counsel (Jacqueline Silvey of counsel), for respondent. Appeal from an order of the District Court of Nassau County, First District (Robert E. Pipia, J.), dated March 12, 2018. The order granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. ORDERED that the order is affirmed, without costs. Plaintiff, an arbitration services provider, commenced this action to recover sums allegedly owed by defendants for services that plaintiff had rendered to them. Plaintiff subsequently moved for summary judgment against defendant Umadevi Chalasani, from whom plaintiff sought $9,839.95 in unpaid fees. The District Court granted the motion. On appeal, Chalasani contends that she is not responsible for the fees charged to her, which represent 50% of the cost of the arbitration services rendered by plaintiff to defendants. Plaintiff, however, provided evidence that Chalasani asserted an arbitration counterclaim and that plaintiff sent Chalasani an email advising her that filing her counterclaim required payment of a $2,510 fee, which included an administrative fee and three hours of arbitrator time. The email [*2]further advised Chalasani that "any additional time incurred by the Arbitrator beyond the time included in the filing fees of the parties [would] be billed at the rate of $620 per hour, split evenly between the parties and invoiced to [her] accordingly." Plaintiff further established that, in response to the email, Chalasani submitted a check for $2,510, thereby establishing her agreement to the aforementioned terms. Thus, contrary to Chalasani's contention, the record establishes that she is responsible for the fees charged to her (see Hussey v Leggio Agency, 299 AD2d 690, 691 [2002]). Consequently, the District Court properly granted plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. Accordingly, the order is affirmed. TOLBERT, J.P., GARGUILO and RUDERMAN, JJ., concur. ENTER: Paul Kenny Chief Clerk Decision Date: May 28, 2020