Brower v. Perkins
| Decision Date | 02 August 1949 |
| Citation | 135 Conn. 675,68 A.2d 146 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | BROWER v. PERKINS |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED.
Appeal from Superior Court, Fairfield County; O'Sullivan, Judge.
Action by Alice L. Brower against Idonah S. Perkins for damages, an accounting and other relief, brought to the Superior Court in Fairfield County and tried to the jury before O'Sullivan, J., special verdict on the second count; verdict for plaintiff on the fourth and fifth counts and the court set aside the verdict on the fifth count after plaintiff failed to file a remittitur. From a judgment for the plaintiff on the fourth count and for an accounting, both parties appeal.
No error upon either appeal.
Before MALTBIE, C.J., and BROWN, JENNINGS, ELLS and DICKENSON, JJ.
Morris Robinson, Norwalk, with whom, on the brief, was Leo Nevas, Westport, for the appellant-appellee (plaintiff).
Edward J. McCarthy, Bridgeport, with whom was Alvin C. Breul, Jr., Bridgeport, for the appellant-appellee (defendant).
In this action the plaintiff's complaint as amended contained five counts and claimed legal and equitable relief. The first count was for services outside the scope of the employment of the plaintiff alleged in the fifth count. The second related to a joint adventure in the purchase and sale of property on Belden Hill in Wilton; the third to a tenancy in common of property on Charles Street in Norwalk; the fourth to the conversion of personal property of the plaintiff; and the fifth to fraud of the defendant which caused the plaintiff to enter the employment of the defendant and turn over to her all of the plaintiff's personal property, and which brought about the exploitation of the plaintiff by inducing her without adequate compensation to work long hours exclusively for the defendant, as a result of which she suffered distress of mind and impaired health and earning capacity. The case was tried to a jury, but the court excluded the first count from their consideration because the damages claimed were not within the jurisdiction of the Superior Court, and the third count because the issues were equitable. It limited their consideration of the second count to answering an interrogatory as to whether the parties entered into “a joint adventure for the purchase and sale of the Belden Hill property,” and they answered “Yes.” They rendered a verdict for the plaintiff of $594 on the fourth count and of $9500 on the fifth count. The defendant's motions to set aside the verdicts were denied except as to the verdict on the fifth count, which the court ordered set aside unless the plaintiff filed a remittitur of $4500, which she failed to do. Judgment was entered for an accounting on the second count, that the plaintiff recover $594 on the fourth, and that the verdict be set aside and a new trial ordered on the fifth. Both parties have appealed.
The determinative question upon the appeals as related to the fifth count is whether the jury were warranted in rendering a verdict of $9500 upon it. The material facts which the jury could properly have found are summarized. For twenty years the plaintiff had been employed in a bank in New York City and on February 2, 1946, was receiving earnings which averaged $40 per week. The defendant, who was sixty-two years old, advertised for a middle-aged woman to act as traveling companion and chauffeur and to share housework. The plaintiff, forty-four years of age, answered the advertisement. The defendant further represented to her that the housework would be light, that much of her time would be spent in traveling, and that they would go to California almost immediately after the plaintiff came into the defendant's employ. The plaintiff accepted the proposition and started to work for the defendant on March 10, 1946. These representations and other representations made by the defendant in the course of the plaintiff's employment were false and known to be false by the defendant and were made to induce the plaintiff to act upon them, and the plaintiff did act upon them to her detriment. Thereafter, during the entire period of the employment, the plaintiff worked every day, including Sundays, with the exception of one day and part of another day, and did the work which the defendant directed, including moving heavy objects, driving a truck, mowing the lawns at three different properties of the defendant, scrubbing floors by hand with steel wool, gardening, and other menial and heavy tasks averaging fourteen hours a day.
At the commencement of her employment the plaintiff was led to move all of her furniture and belongings onto the defendant's properties. On or about May 1, 1946, she and the defendant purchased property on Charles Street, East Norwalk, for $5500, and, as her share of the venture, including taxes, the plaintiff turned over to the defendant all of her life's savings. These were in the form of government bonds having a cash value of $3000; they were registered in the name of the plaintiff and she had not indorsed them. During the period of the plaintiff's employment she repeatedly complained about the low salary, hard work and long hours, but in response was assured by the defendant that the hard work would soon be finished, that they would go to California, and that the plaintiff would have nothing to worry about financially because the defendant would always take care of her. Throughout the employment of the plaintiff, a period of more than four months, the defendant exploited her and so completely dominated her that she was effectively shut off from seeing her husband, her father and her sister.
On or about May 1, 1946, the defendant purchased property at Belden Hill in Wilton, took title in the name of the plaintiff and told her that the property was being purchased for her. When the plaintiff's physical and mental condition became such that she could no longer continue and on July 18, 1946, had to enter a hospital for treatment, the defendant induced her to sign a deed conveying to the defendant her interest in the Belden Hill property upon the defendant's assurance that the plaintiff would receive one-half of the profits when the property was sold. When the defendant learned that the plaintiff intended to leave her employ, she refused to let the plaintiff have her furniture and other belongings unless the plaintiff signed over her interests in the Charles Street and Belden Hill properties.
On March 10, 1946, when the plaintiff began working for the defendant, she weighed 125 pounds and her health was good. As a result of the defendant's fraud and treatment of the plaintiff, she lost about twenty-three pounds in approximately three months and became so confused and nervous that she lost control of the sphincter muscles which govern the passage of urine. After two days in the hospital, on July 20, 1946, she went to her sister's home to rest. She was then very weak and hysterical, had no control of her urine, and was nervous and jumpy. There was a strong odor of urine about her which was obnoxious to her and to everyone around her. Because of this the plaintiff was afraid and ashamed to associate with people. She was with her sister for eight weeks, during which she had to stay in bed most of the time and was not able to do any work.
At the time of trial, in April, 1948, her condition had not fully returned to normal, and at times she became nervous and upset causing a recurrence of her urinary difficulty. Anything causing nervous stress tended to precipitate the plaintiff's trouble. The longer her urinary condition persists the more difficult it will be to cure, and satisfactory treatment cannot be undertaken until this litigation is ended. Thereafter, a course of treatment for about nine months will effect a cure, in the absence of new complicating factors. In September, 1946, the plaintiff was able to resume employment as a companion doing light housework for an elderly woman. Thereafter, up to the time of trial, she continued in such work, earning an amount somewhat larger than her net earnings while she had been working for the bank. Because of her condition she was then still unable to take any other type of employment or return to her position as a bank clerk.
As the trial court directed a new trial without limitation if a remittitur was not filed, there is no need to consider the sufficiency of the facts proven to establish a cause of action for fraud, and the sole issue for consideration under the fifth count is whether the trial court erred in holding the damages excessive in the amount of the ...
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Birgel v. Heintz
...a clear abuse. Allen v. Giuliano, 144 Conn. 573, 578, 135 A.2d 904; Slabinski v. Dix, 138 Conn. 625, 628, 88 A.2d 115; Brower v. Perkins,135 Conn. 675, 681, 68 A.2d 146; Roma v. Thames River Specialities Co., 90 Conn. 18, 20, 96 A. 169; Loomis v. Perkins, 70 Conn. 444, 447, 39 A. 797; Maltb......
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Tomczuk v. Alvarez
...a remittitur, a fair appraisal of compensatory damages, and not the limit of legitimate generosity, is the rule." Brower v. Perkins, 135 Conn. 675, 682, 68 A.2d 146 (1949). The court's broad power to order a remittitur should be exercised "only when it is manifest that the jury have include......
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...as being adequate if awarded by a jury, ... [ Barbieri v. Taylor, 37 Conn.Sup. 1, 426 A.2d 314, 317 (1980) ]. See also Brower v. Perkins, 135 Conn. 675, 68 A.2d 146 (1949). Tennessee cites the New York rule of O'Connor v. Papertsian, but also refers to the judge's functioning as a "thirteen......
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Wochek v. Foley
... ... Brower v. Perkins, 135 Conn. 675, 681, 68 A.2d 146 [1949] ... [193 Conn. 586] "On the other hand, the plaintiff has a constitutional right ... ...