Raudat v. Leary

868 A.2d 120, 88 Conn. App. 44, 2005 Conn. App. LEXIS 105
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedMarch 15, 2005
DocketAC 24491
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 868 A.2d 120 (Raudat v. Leary) 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
Raudat v. Leary, 868 A.2d 120, 88 Conn. App. 44, 2005 Conn. App. LEXIS 105 (Colo. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

Opinion

DiPENTIMA, J.

These appeals involve the sale of a horse named Darryl. The defendant, Denise Leary, appeals from the judgment of the trial court in favor of the plaintiff, Sharon Raudat, after a trial to the court. On appeal, the defendant claims that the court (1) abused its discretion by allowing an admitted expert to give lay opinion, (2) lacked a proper evidentiary foundation on which to award damages and (3) made contradictory findings of fact in its decision. The plaintiff cross appeals, claiming that the court abused its [46]*46discretion by not awarding her consequential damages. We reverse the judgment of the trial court.

These appeals originate in the fields of Wallingford, where Darryl daily grazed. The defendant, who owned Darryl, placed an advertisement in early 2001, which indicated that Darryl was for sale. Jennifer Sisk responded to the advertisement in February and visited the defendant’s bam, where she met with the defendant. During their conversation, the defendant informed Sisk that “[Darryl] was known to buck.” Sisk was pregnant at the time. The defendant’s farrier1 testified at trial that the defendant told him that she had refused to sell Darryl to a pregnant purchaser due to his tendency to buck.

Thereafter, the defendant placed an advertisement in the June, 2001 edition of “Steed Read,” an equine publication. The advertisement stated in relevant part: “Wallingford, CT. . . . Registered Appaloosa gelding 15.3 hand, green broke, 6 year old excellent ground manners. Ties, clips, trailers. Needs miles. $3,200 negotiable . . . .” In response, the plaintiff contacted the defendant. Although the defendant cautioned the plaintiff that Darryl was “green broke”2 and “needed some miles,” she also indicated that he would “make a great trail horse.” The defendant never informed the plaintiff of Darryl’s propensity to buck. When the plaintiff later visited the bam to inspect Darryl, the defendant again made no mention of his bucking proclivity.

On June 15, 2001, the plaintiff purchased Darryl from the defendant for $2800. She first exercised Darryl, lung[47]*47ing3 him for a week. When she attempted to ride the horse, Darryl immediately bucked, tossing the plaintiff to the ground. As a result, she was knocked unconscious. The plaintiff testified that, at that moment, Darryl “went ballistic” and “bucked like he’d never been ridden before.” The plaintiff therefore hired Pamela Pruitt, a horse trainer, to work with Darryl. After a month of work, Pruitt began riding the horse. She did so without incident for three weeks, until Darryl first threw her. On that occasion, Pruitt was “catapulted up about four feet” over the horse. Approximately five weeks later, Darryl did the exact same thing to Pruitt that he had done to the plaintiff, tossing her almost six feet in the air.4 Pruitt this time was knocked unconscious when she hit the ground. Unable to ride the horse, the plaintiff sold Darryl to a third party on September 13, 2001, for $200. The bill of sale indicated that it was for “a 6 year [old Appaloosa] gelding that bucks . . . .” This litigation followed.

The plaintiff filed a two count complaint against the defendant on April 30, 2002, alleging both intentional and negligent misrepresentation in the sale of Darryl. Following a trial to the court, the court ruled in favor of the plaintiff, concluding that the defendant failed “to disclose a material fact that the horse bucked and, having made such a statement, would have resulted in no sale to [the plaintiff].” Because it had ruled in favor of [48]*48the plaintiff on the intentional misrepresentation count, the court stated that it “does not need to address the second count of the complaint as to negligent misrepresentation.” The court awarded the plaintiff $2600 in damages. From that judgment the parties appeal.

I

Before addressing the parties’ respective claims on appeal, we first must consider the threshold question of whether this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction to hear these appeals. “Jurisdiction of the subject-matter is the power [of the court] to hear and determine cases of the general class to which the proceedings in question belong.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Esposito v. Specyalski, 268 Conn. 336, 348, 844 A.2d 211 (2004). “A determination regarding atrial court’s subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law. When . . . the trial court draws conclusions of law, our review is plenary and we must decide whether its conclusions are legally and logically correct and find support in the facts that appear in the record.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Doe v. Roe, 246 Conn. 652, 660, 717 A.2d 706 (1998). “Where a decision as to whether a court has subject matter jurisdiction is required, every presumption favoring jurisdiction should be indulged.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Stewart-Brownstein v. Casey, 53 Conn. App. 84, 88, 728 A.2d 1130 (1999).

The judgment file in the present case is entitled “Partial Judgment.” During oral argument, we inquired as to whether these appeals were brought from a final judgment and subsequently ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs on that issue. “The lack of a final judgment implicates the authority of this court to hear the appeal because it is a jurisdictional defect.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Cruz v. Gonzalez, 40 Conn. App. 33, 35, 668 A.2d 739 (1995).

[49]*49We conclude that, despite the particular nomenclature of the judgment file, a final judgment exists in this case. The plaintiffs complaint contained two counts that alleged intentional and negligent misrepresentation. Our Supreme Court recently observed that “the same conduct [cannot] reasonably be determined to have been both intentionally and negligently tortious. . . . [I]ntentional conduct and negligent conduct, although differing only by a matter of degree . . . are separate and mutually exclusive. . . . Although in a given case there may be doubt about whether one acted intentionally or negligently, the difference in meaning is clear.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) DaCruz v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co., 268 Conn. 675, 693, 846 A.2d 849 (2004). It is for that reason that the court, in its memorandum of decision, concluded that it did “not need to address the second count of the complaint as to negligent misrepresentation” once it had concluded that the defendant was liable for intentional misrepresentation. That language appears again in the judgment file.

As noted by former Chief Justice Ellen Peters, “Although it is preferable for a trial court to make a formal ruling on each count, we will not elevate form over substance when it is apparent from the memorandum of decision that the trial court [found that a negligent misrepresentation had not been made].” Normand Josef Enterprises, Inc. v. Connecticut National Bank, 230 Conn.

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Bluebook (online)
868 A.2d 120, 88 Conn. App. 44, 2005 Conn. App. LEXIS 105, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/raudat-v-leary-connappct-2005.