Burcaw v. Sykora

• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: Before HOUSE; PER CURIAM
• Citation: Burcaw v. Sykora, 377 A.2d 298, 173 Conn. 229 (Conn. 1977)
• Decision Date: 28 June 1977
• Parties: Carolyn BURCAW et al. v. Timothy SYKORA.

Page 298

377 A.2d 298

173 Conn. 229

Carolyn BURCAW et al. v. Timothy SYKORA.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued June 8, 1977.

Decided June 28, 1977.

Edgar P. DeVylder, Jr., Stamford, with whom, on the brief, was Morgan P. Ames, Stamford, for appellants (plaintiffs).

Paul E. Pollock, Bridgeport, for appellee (defendant).

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

PER CURIAM.

This is an appeal by two of five plaintiffs from a judgment of the Superior Court entered on a verdict for the defendant in an action arising from a motor vehicle collision which occurred on July 13, 1971. The basic issues at the trial were the merits of the plaintiffs' allegations of negligence on the part of the defendant driver and the defendant's allegations of contributory negligence on the part of the plaintiff driver, who was allegedly operating the automobile as the agent of the other plaintiff-appellant, the owner of the car.

Although the plaintiff driver and the plaintiff owner both appealed, only the plaintiff driver submitted a brief. She asserted two claims of error that the verdict should have been set aside as against the evidence and that the court erred in its charge concerning the application of § 14-231 of the General Statutes, which provides that vehicles proceeding in opposite directions should pass to the right of each other.

There was ample evidence to support a finding by the jury that the defendant was not negligent or that, if he were, that the plaintiff driver, in operating at excessive speed, was contributorily negligent. The verdict was a general one and the presumption is that the jury found all the issues for the defendant. Harry A. Finman & Son, Inc. v....