Town of Groton v. Medbery

Decision Date08 November 1972
Docket NumberNo. CV,CV
Citation301 A.2d 270,6 Conn.Cir.Ct. 671
CourtConnecticut Circuit Court
PartiesTOWN OF GROTON v. Russell S. MEDBERY et al. 10-7204-16762.

Suisman, Shapiro, Wool & Brennan, New London, for plaintiff.

O'Brian, Shafner & Garvey, Groton, for defendants.

BIELUCH, Judge.

This action is brought under General Statutes § 31-293 for the recovery by the plaintiff of workmen's compensation payments to its employee, a police officer, injured in a collision with and while in pursuit of a motor vehicle stolen and operated by the defendant John G. Medbery, an unemancipated minor. The plaintiff also seeks recovery from the minor's father, the defendant Russell S. Medbery, by authority of the parental liability law, § 52-572.

The plaintiff alleges that the minor wilfully and/or maliciously injured and damaged the police officer, known to be pursuing him, by operating a stolen motor vehicle in the nighttime without headlights and in such a manner as to avoid apprehension, by disregarding a stop sign and striking a car, and by colliding with a truck on a bridge and turning his vehicle sideways so as to block both lanes of travel thereon and then colliding with the cruiser operated by the officer. The defendants have demurred on the ground that the substituted complaint does not allege any act of wilfulness or maliciousness by the minor son which caused the officer's damages and injuries, as required by the parental liability law. Section 52-572 creates parental liability for the torts of minors in two situations. We are not concerned here, however, with the portion of the statute making a parent liable with the minor for damage to a motor vehicle taken by the child without the permission of the owner. The plaintiff seeks to recover by the other provision of the law, which imposes joint and several liability upon the parent with the minor who wilfully or maliciously causes damage to any property or injury to any person, if such minor would have been liable therefor had he been an adult.

If a cause of action could be proven under the allegations of the complaint, it is good and a demurrer does not lie. The sufficiency of the allegations as against the demurrer is to be tested by the facts provable under them, and the court, in considering the allegations, will give them the same favorable construction as a trier might deem itself required to give in admitting evidence under them to prove a cause of action. Rutt v. Roche, 138 Conn. 605, 608, 87 A.2d 805; Holden v. Crown Chemical Corporation, 19 Conn.Sup. 85, 87, 110 A.2d 288. In order for the plaintiff to ...

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4 cases
  • Clinton v. Aetna Life and Sur. Co.
    • United States
    • Superior Court of Connecticut
    • 23 Abril 1991
    ...v. Irish, 207 Conn. 518, 532-33, 542 A.2d 711 (1988). Maliciously means with deliberate intent to injure. See Groton v. Medbery, 6 Conn.Cir.Ct. 671, 673, 301 A.2d 270 (1972). The law is clear that when a complaint alleges several causes of action or theories of recovery against the insured,......
  • Hanks v. Booth
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Kansas
    • 31 Octubre 1986
    ...finding that although the minor intended to drive the vehicle, he did not intend to damage plaintiff's car. In Town of Groton v. Medbery, 6 Conn.Cir. 671, 301 A.2d 270 (1972), the court refused to allow a police officer recovery from the parents of a minor for injuries sustained in a high s......
  • Crum v. Groce, 27273
    • United States
    • Supreme Court of Colorado
    • 6 Diciembre 1976
    ...misperceived the chances of an accident. See Coffman v. Godsoe, 142 Colo. 575, 351 P.2d 808 (1960). See also Town of Groton v. Medbery, 6 Conn.Cir. 671, 301 A.2d 270 (1972); McKinney v. Caball, 40 Mich.App. 389, 198 N.W.2d 713 (1972), and cases cited in Annot., 8 A.L.R.3d In the context of ......
  • Motorists Mut. Ins. Co. v. Bill
    • United States
    • United States State Supreme Court of Ohio
    • 7 Diciembre 1978
    ...v. Torres (1965), 75 N.M. 129, 401 P.2d 308. The Court of Appeals also cited and declined to follow the holding of Groton v. Medbery (1972), 6 Conn.Cir. 671, 301 A.2d 270. The statute in the state of New Mexico which was being construed by the court in Potomac permitted recovery from parent......

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