Pinto v. Zieba, No. X05 Cv 98-01633 18 S (Jul. 10, 2000)

2000 Conn. Super. Ct. 8282
CourtConnecticut Superior Court
DecidedJuly 10, 2000
DocketNo. X05 CV 98-01633 18 S
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2000 Conn. Super. Ct. 8282 (Pinto v. Zieba, No. X05 Cv 98-01633 18 S (Jul. 10, 2000)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pinto v. Zieba, No. X05 Cv 98-01633 18 S (Jul. 10, 2000), 2000 Conn. Super. Ct. 8282 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

[EDITOR'S NOTE: This case is unpublished as indicated by the issuing court.]

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION ON MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT FILED BY CASANOVA STREET WASTE PROCESSING AND RECYCLING CORPORATION, DATED FEBRUARY 10, 2000
The defendant, Casanova Street Waste Processing and Recycling Corporation (Casanova) filed this motion for summary judgment alleging that the statute of limitations, General Statutes § 52-584, prevents the plaintiff from maintaining this personal injury action since service on Casanova occurred more that two years from the date of the injury.

FACTS
The plaintiff, Paulo Pinto, was seriously injured in a truck collision that occurred in Greenwich, Connecticut on I-95 in the early morning hours of October 25, 1996. He was employed as a highway repairman and was working on the shoulder area of I-95 at the time of the collision. He commenced this lawsuit by a complaint dated January 2, 1998, which named only two defendants, Marek Zieba, the operator of the truck and Sroka Trucking Co., the owner of the truck. The complaint alleged that Zieba was operating a truck on I-95 and left the travelled portion of the highway entering the breakdown lane, striking another truck occupied by the plaintiff. This collision threw the plaintiff to the pavement and caused severe and permanent injuries. Three of the plaintiff's co-workers, Noel A. Grant, William Gregory and Querino Maia, were also substantially injured and they commenced their own lawsuits against the same two parties. All four lawsuits have been consolidated for trial and are pending on the Complex Civil Litigation Docket in the Stamford Superior Court.

After further investigation it was learned by all plaintiffs' counsel, that there were other parties who may be liable. Each party filed a separate motion in his file to cite in four new defendants. Those four defendants were Casanova, Renee G. Goulet, Renee L. Goulet, Sr. and CT Page 8283 Warning Lights, Inc., a/k/a Warning Lights and Scaffolding Service, Inc. The motions to cite in were all filed in September 1998. At various dates, the court, Mintz, J., granted all four motions to cite in and established different service and return dates.

In Pinto, the Motion to Cite In was dated September 10, 1998 and Judge Mintz' order was dated September 28, 1998. The Motion to Cite In contained no statutory or practice Book reference. It established a service date of October 22, 1998 and return date of November 3, 1998. Pinto prepared a draft amended complaint against all four additional defendants prior to the September 28, 1998 order. The complaint was dated and signed on October 30, 1998, and on that date Pinto delivered it to the sheriff for service. According to the sheriff's return on file, service was made on all four defendants on November 2, 1998. This court has examined the returns of service in the other three files. It appears that service by the other three plaintiffs on the newly cited in four defendants was made on or before October 20, 1998, within the two year statute of limitations. The defendant, Casanova, filed this Motion for Summary Judgment on February 10, 2000, alleging that the November 2, 1998 service on Casanova was beyond the two year limitations of General Statutes § 52-584. Casanova did not file a similar motion in the other three lawsuits. The parties filed Memoranda of Law and presented oral arguments.

In this case as to the defendant, Casanova, the pleadings are closed. The answer contained one special defense, the statute of limitations, General Statutes § 52-584. A general denial of that special defense was filed by the plaintiff, Pinto.

DISCUSSION OF LAW
This court will not recite the well known standards for summary judgment. Practice Book § 17-49; Strada v. Connecticut Newspapers,Inc., 193 Conn. 313, 316-17 (1984); Wilson v. New Haven, 213 Conn. 277,279-80 (1989); Hammer v. Lumberman's Mutual Casualty. Co., 214 Conn. 573,578-79 (1990); Home Insurance Co. v. Aetna Life and Casualty Co.,235 Conn. 185, 202-03 (1995); Gutpa v. New Britain General Hospital,239 Conn. 574, 582 (1996). These standards have been applied by this court in deciding this motion

General Statutes § 52-584 is a two year statute of limitations and a three year statute of repose. According to the complaint, the plaintiff immediately sustained severe and substantial injuries on October 25, 1996. He was thrown from a truck to the pavement. His alleged injuries are: a fracture of the pubic remus, fracture of the left sacroiliac, multiple rib fractures, a dislocated sacrum and multiple internal CT Page 8284 injuries. He required a long period of hospitalization and medical treatment. All of these injuries occurred to the plaintiff immediately as a result of his being thrown to the pavement. Therefore, the three year repose section of the statute and the discovery of injury section are not relevant to the issue raised by this motion for summary judgment. Catzv. Rubenstein, 201 Conn. 39, 49-50 (1986); Vilcinskas v. Sears, Roebuck Co., 144 Conn. 170, 175 (1956).

The plaintiff argues that the public policy of a limitations statute is to furnish notice to a party. He argues that under the unique facts and circumstances of this case, the named party, Casanova, had adequate notice that there was a Greenwich, Connecticut truck accident on October 25, 1996 on I-95 in which multiple parties sustained severe and disabling injuries. Casanova had notice of that fact since it was served prior to the expiration of the statute, no later than October 20, 1998, by the other three plaintiffs. The plaintiff, Pinto, argues that Casanova had actual notice of its liability and the substantial damage claim it was facing prior to October 25, 1998. Pinto argues that the public policy requirement of notice to the defendant, Casanova, has been met in this case and the motion for summary judgment must be denied.

Pinto cites no legal authority for this proposition and candidly admits that he has found no Connecticut case on point. The closest factual case cited by Pinto is Nichols v. The Lighthouse Restaurant, Inc., 246 Conn. 156 (1998). In Nichols, an employee of H Co., sought damages from the named defendant, L Co., for negligence after he sustained injuries from a fall at L Co.'s restaurant. H Co. intervened in the plaintiff's action against L Co. seeking reimbursement of money it paid to the plaintiff under Workers' Compensation. The trial court initially granted L Co.'s motion for summary judgment on H Co.'s intervening complaint on the grounds that the intervention in the plaintiff's negligence action occurred beyond the two year statute of limitations. The injury occurred on August 20, 1991 and H Co., within 30 days of commencement of the employee's August 4, 1993 lawsuit, intervened on September 1, 1993.

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Bluebook (online)
2000 Conn. Super. Ct. 8282, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pinto-v-zieba-no-x05-cv-98-01633-18-s-jul-10-2000-connsuperct-2000.