Corcoran v. Taylor

782 A.2d 728, 65 Conn. App. 340, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 434
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedAugust 28, 2001
DocketAC 20571
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 782 A.2d 728 (Corcoran v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Corcoran v. Taylor, 782 A.2d 728, 65 Conn. App. 340, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 434 (Colo. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Opinion,

LANDAU, J.

The plaintiff, Kathleen M. Corcoran, appeals from the judgment rendered by the trial court in this personal injury action following a trial to the jury. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that (1) the court improperly (a) reduced the jury’s economic damages award to zero because the amount of collateral source payments she received greatly exceeded the economic verdict and (b) refused to submit her proposed interrog[342]*342atories to the jury, (2) General Statutes § 52-225a1 is unconstitutionally vague as applied to her and (3) defense counsel’s closing argument was unduly prejudicial.

The following facts are relevant to our resolution of this appeal. On February 9, 1995, the parties were involved in a motor vehicle accident in East Haven as they were traveling north on Interstate 95. As a result of the collision, the plaintiff commenced an action in one count, claiming injuries to her head, shoulders, back and knee, as well as emotional disorders, as a result of the defendant’s alleged negligence. The case was tried in November and early December, 1999.2 There apparently was no great question as to who caused the accident, but the proximate cause of the [343]*343plaintiffs alleged injuries was vigorously contested. The plaintiff submitted a summary of her claimed medical bills, which totaled approximately $67,000. The jury awarded the plaintiff $37,500 in economic damages and $40,000 in noneconomic damages for a total verdict of $77,500.

The plaintiff filed motions to set aside the verdict and for additur, which were denied by the court. Thereafter, the court held a collateral source hearing. During the hearing, counsel for the parties agreed that the amount paid by collateral sources was four times the economic damages awarded by the jury.3 Counsel for the plaintiff argued that because the verdict as to economic damages was a general verdict, it was not possible to determine what portion of the economic damages was for costs incurred and what part was for future medical expenses, and that a new trial as to damages was necessary. The court ruled that the collateral source payments had to be taken into account and deducted them from the economic damages, acknowledging that doing so reduced the plaintiffs judgment by almost half. The plaintiff appealed.

I

We disagree that the court improperly (1) reduced the jury’s economic damages award and (2) refused to submit the plaintiffs proposed interrogatories to the jury.

[344]*344A

The plaintiffs first claim is that the court improperly reduced her economic damages on the basis of her collateral source benefits. This claim requires us to interpret § 52-225a and apply it to the facts of this case. “Statutory construction is a question of law and therefore our review is plenary. . . . [T]he process of statutory interpretation involves a reasoned search for the intention of the legislature. ... In other words, we seek to determine, in a reasoned manner, the meaning of the statutory language as applied to the facts of this case .... In seeking to determine that meaning, we look to the words of the statute itself, to the legislative history and circumstances surrounding its enactment, to the legislative policy it was designed to implement, and to its relationship to existing legislation and common law principles governing the same general subject matter. ... It is the duty of the court to interpret statutes as they are written . . . and not by construction read into statutes provisions which are not clearly stated.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Mack v. LaValley, 55 Conn. App. 150, 165-66, 738 A.2d 718, cert, denied, 251 Conn. 928, 742 A.2d 363 (1999).

In 1986, our legislature abolished the common-law collateral source rule in personal injury cases to prevent a plaintiff from receiving a double recovery for injuries. Id., 167. Section 52-225a (a) provides, in part, that in a civil action sounding in tort, where the plaintiff seeks to recover damages resulting from personal injuries that occurred after October 1,1987, and where the jury determines liability and awards damages to compensate the plaintiff, “the court shall reduce the amount of such award which represents economic damages ... by an amount equal to the total of amounts” paid by collateral sources. “The language and legislative history of § 52-225a clearly indicate that § 52-225a was intended to [345]*345prevent plaintiffs from obtaining double recoveries, i.e., collecting economic damages from a defendant and also receiving collateral source payments.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.

Here, the plaintiff agreed with the defendant that she had received payments from collateral sources for her injuries that were four times the amount of the jury’s award of economic damages. The court reduced the amount of the economic verdict to zero because the amount paid by collateral sources greatly exceeded the economic damages the jury awarded. On appeal, the plaintiff relies on Mack v. LaValley, supra, 55 Conn. App. 150, specifically, in which this court stated: “We interpret § 52-225a (a) to mean that when the amount of the collateral sources received by the plaintiff is less than or equal to the amount of the reduction in the claimant’s economic damages attributable to the claimant’s own negligence, there shall be no collateral source reduction in the award.” (Emphasis added.) Id., 168. The facts of Mack do not apply to the facts of this case, where there was no reduction in the verdict due to the plaintiffs negligence. The plaintiff also relies on Fleming v. Garnett, 231 Conn. 77, 646 A.2d 1308 (1994). Fleming also is not applicable because that case involved multiple defendants, some of whom settled the claims against them prior to trial, and a claimant who was partially negligent. This case, unlike Fleming, does not concern the pro rata distribution of the jury’s verdict.

The court, therefore, properly reduced the jury’s economic verdict, and the result is consistent with the legislative intent to prevent plaintiffs from obtaining double recoveries.

B

The plaintiffs second claim is that the court abused its discretion by refusing to submit certain interrogate[346]*346ries4 to the jury because, she claims, the answers would have distinguished past from future economic losses, which distinction was relevant to the collateral source hearing. The plaintiffs claim is unfounded.

Practice Book § 16-18 provides in relevant part: “The judicial authority may submit to the jury written interrogatories for the purpose of explaining or limiting a general verdict, which shall be answered and delivered to the clerk as a part of the verdict. . . .” The trial court has broad discretion to regulate the manner in which interrogatories are presented to the jury, as well as their form and content. Gaulton v. Reno Paint & Wallpaper Co., 177 Conn. 121, 125, 412 A.2d 311 (1979). “[T]his rule is subject to the exception that where the complaint contains two or more counts . . .

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Bluebook (online)
782 A.2d 728, 65 Conn. App. 340, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 434, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/corcoran-v-taylor-connappct-2001.