Week of March 13, 2018

Welcome to our Supreme and Appellate Court summaries webpage. On this page, I provide abbreviated summaries of decisions from the Connecticut Appellate Courts which highlight important issues and developments in Connecticut law, and provide practical practice pointers to litigants. I have been summarizing these court decisions internally for our firm for more than 10 years, and providing relevant highlights to my municipal and insurance practice clients for almost as long. It was suggested that a wider audience might appreciate brief summaries of recent rulings that condense often long and confusing decisions down to their basic elements. These summaries are limited to the civil litigation decisions. I may from time to time add commentary, and may even criticize a decision’s reasoning. Such commentary is solely my own personal opinion. Pullman & Comley’s Appellate Practice Group of which I am a member includes experienced appellate advocates in almost every area of the law.  Should you have a need to consult about a potential appeal, please email me at emccreery@pullcom.com. I hope the reader finds these summaries helpful. – Edward P. McCreery

Posted March 13, 2018

Appellate Court Advance Release Opinions:

AC39565 - Carvalhos Masonry, LLC v. S&L Variety Contractors, LLC

• Interesting case.  After the conclusion of the evidence in the case, the trial judge urged the parties to settle and even recommended the amount.  The plaintiff said it would agree to that amount, but the defendant refused.  The trial judge then proceeded to render judgment for the plaintiff in the same amount as it had previously recommended as a settlement amount.  The Appellate Court reversed holding that to avoid the appearance of impropriety – the trial judge should have immediately recused herself once she dabbled in mediating the dispute, and that effort proved unsuccessful.