Ipacs v. Cranford

783 A.2d 1044, 65 Conn. App. 441, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 446
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedSeptember 4, 2001
DocketAC 20370
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 783 A.2d 1044 (Ipacs v. Cranford) 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
Ipacs v. Cranford, 783 A.2d 1044, 65 Conn. App. 441, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 446 (Colo. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

Opinion

SPEAR, J.

In this personal injury action, the defendants, David Cranford and the Salvation Army,1 appeal from the judgment, rendered after a jury trial, in favor of the plaintiff, Kathleen Ipacs. The defendants claim that the trial court improperly (1) denied their posttrial motion challenging the verdict as against the weight of the evidence, and (2) failed to instruct the jury on the plaintiffs duties and responsibilities as an operator of a bicycle on a public highway. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On August 19, 1996, the piaintiff was riding her bicycle in a northerly direction in the southbound lane of North Quaker Lane in West Hartford. At the intersection of North Quaker Lane and Asylum Avenue, the plaintiff made a left hand turn from the center of North Quaker Lane onto Asylum Avenue. After making the turn, the plaintiff traveled west against traffic in the right hand lane on Asylum Avenue. Although the plaintiff saw Cranford’s minivan in the right lane on Asylum Avenue, she did not believe that she was in danger. The defendant, who was traveling at a high rate of speed, struck the plaintiff and caused her to suffer multiple injuries. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff and awarded $769,000 in economic damages and $540,000 in noneconomic damages for a total damages award of $1,309,000.2

[443]*443After the verdict, the defendants filed a motion in arrest of judgment, to set aside the verdict, for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, for a remittitur, for a new trial and for a reduction in the verdict due to collateral source payments. Thereafter, the court granted the defendants’ motion for a remittitur in the amount of $649,040.31, finding that the economic damages portion of the verdict was excessive. The court also deducted collateral source payments in an amount that the parties agreed on and thereafter rendered judgment for the plaintiff in the amount of $449,567.39. The defendants’ other motions directed to the verdict3 were denied, and this appeal followed.

I

We first address the defendants’ claim that the verdict was against the weight of the evidence. In their principal brief, the defendants claim that the verdict is so unwarranted that it “shocks the sense of justice, compelling the conclusion that the jury was influenced by mistake.” We disagree.

In reviewing a court’s refusal to set aside a verdict, we apply an abuse of discretion standard. Opotzner v. Bass, 63 Conn. App. 555, 569, 777 A.2d 718, cert, denied, 257 Conn. 910, 782 A.2d 134 (2001). The evidence is viewed in a light most favorable to the prevailing party and to sustaining the verdict. Id. We accord great weight to the court’s decision and indulge every reasonable presumption in favor of its correctness. Gombos v. Aranoff, 53 Conn. App. 347, 350-51, 730 A.2d 98 (1999). We must determine whether the jury reasonably could have concluded, on the basis of the evidence and reasonable inferences drawn from that evidence, that the verdict in favor of the plaintiff was proper. Purzycki v. Fairfield, 244 Conn. 101, 106-107, 708 A.2d 937 (1998).

[444]*444“A court is empowered to set aside a jury verdict when, in the court’s opinion, the verdict is contrary to the law or unsupported by the evidence. ... A verdict should not be set aside, however, where it is apparent that there was some evidence on which the jury might reasonably have reached its conclusion.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) PAR Painting, Inc. v. Greenhorne & O’Mara, Inc., 61 Conn. App. 317, 322, 763 A.2d 1078, cert, denied, 255 Conn. 951, 770 A.2d 31 (2001).

The defendants assert that the verdict was improper for two reasons. First, they claim that the plaintiffs violation of several statutes constituted negligence per se, making her negligent conduct more than 50 percent responsible for causing the accident.4 Second, the defendants argue that the verdict must have been based on a mistake because the jury originally failed to award economic damages, mistakenly believing that the court would make the award, and then awarded $769,000 in economic damages, when the actual, maximum economic damages was $119,959.69.

We conclude that there was sufficient evidence to support the verdict and, thus, it does not shock the sense of justice. The jury heard testimony that Cranford’s vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed close to the curb, that he saw the plaintiff turn onto Asylum Avenue into his travel lane and that he had sufficient time to avoid the accident. There was expert testimony to the effect that if the plaintiff were believed, she was [445]*445traveling slowly, and Cranford had sufficient time to stop if he had reacted and applied his brakes. It is the jury’s function, not ours, to pass on the credibility of witnesses and the weight to be given to the evidence. Tryon v. North Branford, 58 Conn. App. 702, 716, 755 A.2d 317 (2000). The jury had sufficient evidence before it to have concluded that Cranford’s negligence was 85 percent responsible for the accident and resulting injuries.

The defendants next argue that the excessive award of economic damages shows that the jury was confused and mistaken, and, therefore, the entire verdict is tainted. We are unpersuaded.

The defendants cite no authority in support of their claim that because a remittitur was ordered, the verdict necessarily was tainted and should be set aside. Adoption of that proposition would effectively eliminate the procedural mechanism of a remittitur because whenever a court deemed a verdict excessive, it would have to set aside the verdict rather than order a remittitur. Such a procedure would be contrary to General Statutes § 52-228b, which precludes a court from setting aside a verdict as excessive without giving the prevailing party an opportunity to accept a remittitur.5 That argument is without merit.

II

The defendants next claim that the court committed plain error by failing to instruct the jury pursuant to statute that the plaintiff, when riding a bicycle on the public highway, had the same duties and responsibilities as the operator of a motor vehicle. Specifically, the [446]*446defendants claim that the court should have instructed the jury, pursuant to General Statutes § 14-286a (a), that “[e]very person riding a bicycle . . . upon the traveled portion of a highway shall ... be subject to all of the duties applicable to the driver of any vehicle . . . .” We disagree.

The defendants request plain error review of their claim. Pursuant to Practice Book § 60-5, “[t]he [appellate] court may reverse or modify the decision of the trial court if it determines . . . that the decision is otherwise erroneous in law.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
783 A.2d 1044, 65 Conn. App. 441, 2001 Conn. App. LEXIS 446, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ipacs-v-cranford-connappct-2001.