O'Brien v. Cordova

• Decision Date: 20 July 1976
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Robert P. O'BRIEN et al. v. Julio CORDOVA.

Page 933

370 A.2d 933

171 Conn. 303

Robert P. O'BRIEN et al. v. Julio CORDOVA.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

July 20, 1976.

William F. Gallagher, New Haven, with whom, on the brief, was John R. McGrail, New Haven, for appellant (defendant).

Robert C. Flanagan, New Haven, with whom was John C. Flanagan, New Haven, for appellees (plaintiffs).

Before HOUSE, C.J., and LOISELLE, BOGDANSKI, LONGO and BARBER, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

The defendant, Julio Cordova, has appealed from a judgment rendered on a jury verdict for the plaintiffs, Robert P. O'Brien and Ann O'Brien, and their minor children, Dean and Robert, Jr., in their action to recover damages for their injuries. The plaintiffs' complaint states that Raymond Perez, while acting as Julio Cordova's agent and within the scope of his authority, negligently operated Cordova's motor vehicle at an unreasonable rate of speed, failed to keep his vehicle under proper control, failed to maintain a proper lookout, failed to give a signal of his approach, failed to stop at a stop sign, and followed the O'Brien vehicle too closely in violation of General Statutes § 14-240. Cordova's principal claim, the resolution of which is dispositive of this appeal, is that the trial court erred in denying his motion to set aside the verdict and his motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict because the plaintiffs failed to prove any of their allegations of negligence.

The complaint alleges that while stopped at a stop sign on a public highway, O'Brien's motor vehicle was struck in the rear by the motor vehicle operated by Perez. In considering whether there was sufficient evidence to support a verdict, the evidence as printed in the appendices to the briefs is consulted. Raia v. Topehius, 165 Conn. 231, 237, 332 A.2d 93; Lepri v. Branford, 152 Conn. 210, 211, 205 A.2d 486. ¹

The defendant's brief has no appendix and the appendix to the plaintiffs' brief only reveals, in substance, the following: The impact of the collision caused Robert O'Brien to be thrown back and then forward on the wheel. After the accident, Robert O'Brien got out of his vehicle and the operator of the other vehicle showed him the defendant's motor vehicle registration. Sometime after the accident Cordova and Perez came to his home. Ann O'Brien stated: 'We were stopped for a stop sign, and all of a sudden we felt a big bang behind us-go to turn around and someone had hit us. The children-one of them came flying over and hit his chest on the back seat and landed in the front, and the little one got caught. He hit his chest near the arm rest of the car, the back of the car.' Cordova stated that when he heard about the accident he looked for Perez. When he talked to Perez, the latter stated: 'I had an accident. I only hit the-broke a tail light of a car.' He also said that no one was hurt. Cordova then drove to O'Brien's residence and asked O'Brien to identify Perez.

To support a verdict in a negligence case, there must be sufficient evidence of the defendant's negligence to remove the issue from the field of surmise and conjecture. Chasse v. Albert, 147 Conn. 680, 683, 166 A.2d 148; Palmieri v. Macero, 146 Conn. 705, 708, 155 A.2d 750. 'The test of the validity of the jury's determination depends upon whether the evidence, fairly and impartially considered, would be likely to induce in the minds of twelve men of ordinary intelligence attentively considering it and using common sense logic 'a reasonable belief that it is more probable than otherwise that the fact in issue is true.' Darrow v....