Fojtik v. Hunter, (SC 16939)

• Citation: 828 A.2d 589,265 Conn. 385
• Decision Date: 12 August 2003
• Docket Number: (SC 16939)
• Parties: VIVIAN M. FOJTIK ET AL. v. TONIA R. HUNTER ET AL.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

265 Conn. 385

828 A.2d 589

VIVIAN M. FOJTIK ET AL. v. TONIA R. HUNTER ET AL.

(SC 16939)

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued April 17, 2003.

Officially released August 12, 2003.

Sullivan, C. J., and Borden, Katz, Palmer and Vertefeuille, Js. Hugh D. Hughes, with whom, on the brief, were William F. Gallagher, William P. Yelenak and John D. Ivers, Jr., for the appellants (plaintiffs).

W. Glen Pierson, with whom was Charles P. Reed, for the appellees (defendant National Car Rental Systems, Inc., et al.).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, C. J.

The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether a lessor of a motor vehicle may be held liable for the tortious conduct of its lessee under General Statutes § 14-154a,¹ when the lessee was operating the leased vehicle with a suspended operator's license. The plaintiffs, Vivian M. Fojtik and Kim Baran, brought this negligence action against the defendants Tonia R. Hunter and Litrina Anthony to recover damages for injuries sustained in an automobile accident. They also sought damages, under § 14-154a, from the defendant National Car Rental System, Inc., doing business as Barberino Rental Corporation (National), which had leased Hunter the vehicle she was operating at the time of the accident. Section 14-154a imposes on lessors of vehicles vicarious liability for the tortious conduct of their lessees. The trial court granted National's motion for summary judgment on the ground that § 14-154a does not cover situations in which the lessee was operating the vehicle with a suspended operator's license in violation of his or her lease agreement with the lessor.² The plaintiffs appeal³ claiming that liability under § 14-154a may attach when the lessee has violated the lease agreement. We agree with the plaintiffs and, accordingly, reverse the summary judgment to the contrary.

The record reveals the following relevant undisputed facts. This action arises from a motor vehicle accident that occurred on June 13, 1998, on Routes 5 and 15 in Berlin. Fojtik was driving her Toyota Corrolla, with Baran as her passenger, when they sustained injuries after Fojtik's vehicle was struck by a vehicle owned by National and driven by Hunter.⁴ At the time of the accident, Hunter's operator's license had been suspended.

The plaintiffs brought this action alleging negligence against Hunter and Anthony and liability under § 14-154a against National. The plaintiffs also brought separate actions against Government Employees Insurance Company (GEICO) to obtain the uninsured motorist's coverage available under the policy that GEICO had issued to Fojtik. Those actions were consolidated with the present action, and both GEICO and National filed motions for summary judgment.

Thereafter, the trial court granted National's motion for summary judgment. The court found that Hunter had violated the condition of the lease agreement requiring that she be a validly licensed driver and, therefore, that she did not have lawful possession of the vehicle. Relying on our decision in Pedevillano v. Bryon, 231 Conn. 265, 268, 648 A.2d 873 (1994), the court concluded that National could not be held liable under § 14-154a.⁵ This appeal followed.

The plaintiffs claim on appeal that the trial court improperly concluded that, under § 14-154a, the lessor of a motor vehicle is not liable for the acts of its lessee when the lessee has violated the lease agreement by driving the vehicle with a suspended license. We agree.

"Our standard of review of a trial court's granting of summary judgment is well established. Pursuant to Practice Book § 17-49, summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Such questions of law are subject to plenary appellate review." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Mytych v. May Dept. Stores Co., 260 Conn. 152, 158-59, 793 A.2d 1068 (2002). Because no material fact is in dispute in the present case, the dispositive issue is the proper construction of § 14-154a. "Statutory construction is a question of law and therefore our review is plenary." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) In re Joshua S., 260 Conn. 182, 213, 796 A.2d 1141 (2002).

Section 14-154a provides: "Any person renting or leasing to another any motor vehicle owned by him shall be liable for any damage to any person or property caused by the operation of such motor vehicle while so rented or leased, to the same extent as the operator would have been liable if he had also been the owner." By its plain language, § 14-154a provides no exception for cases in which a lessee has violated his lease agreement. We previously have recognized, however, that, in certain circumstances, liability under § 14-154a can be limited by the lease agreement, even though § 14-154a does not expressly allow for such a limitation. See Pedevillano v. Bryon, supra, 231 Conn. 270.

To understand the scope of this exception to liability under § 14-154a, a review of our previous interpretations of that statute is helpful. In Fisher v. Hodge, 162 Conn. 363, 365-67, 294 A.2d 577 (1972), we considered a claim that the defendant, the brother of the lessee of a rental car, who had been driving the car with the lessee's permission at the time that it collided with a car driven by the plaintiff's decedent, was not part of the lessee's immediate family and, therefore, was an unauthorized user under the lease agreement. Accordingly, the defendant lessor claimed that it was not liable under § 14-154a. Id., 366-67. We concluded that the term "`immediate family'" as used in the lease agreement included the siblings of the lessee. Id., 367-68.We also stated, however, that even if the driver had not been an authorized user under the lease agreement, the lessor would be held liable because § 14-154a imposes liability regardless of the terms of the lease agreement limiting the use of the vehicle to specified individuals. Id., 370-71.

In Pedevillano v. Bryon, supra, 231 Conn. 267, the lessee had leased a car from the defendant lessor. The lessee gave permission to the defendant driver, who was not a party to the lease agreement, to operate the leased vehicle. Id. While operating the vehicle, the defendant driver negligently and recklessly caused injury to the plaintiff. Id. The plaintiff sued the lessor of the vehicle under § 14-154a, claiming, inter alia, that: "(1) literally construed, § 14-154a imposes unconditional liability on a lessor for injuries caused by any user of the lessor's vehicles; [and] (2) liberally construed in light of its remedial purposes, § 14-154a imposes liability on a lessor for injuries caused by a person who uses the vehicle with the permission of an authorized lessee...." Id., 268. We rejected both arguments. Id., 269-70.

With respect to the first argument, we concluded that the plaintiff's broad interpretation of § 14-154a was contrary to our earlier cases wherein we "consistently construed [§ 14-154a] as imposing on one who rents or leases a motor vehicle to another the same liability as that of its operator, provided the vehicle, at the time in question, is being operated by one in lawful possession of it pursuant to the terms of the contract of rental." (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 268. We rejected the plaintiff's second argument for the same reason. Id., 269-70. Thus, we indicated, contrary to our dicta in Fisher, that a lease agreement could limit § 14-154a liability. Id., 270.

We emphasized, however, when discussing the role of the lease agreement in eliminating § 14-154a liability, "that the lessor's right to limit the identity of authorized drivers does not, in light of the purpose of § 14-154a, relieve the lessor of liability to third parties for misconduct by such authorized drivers, even when such misconduct violates express contractual restrictions on the use of the vehicle." (Emphasis in original.) Id., 270-71. Thus, we recognized a distinction, for purposes of liability under § 14-154a, between an authorized driver who breaches the terms of the lease agreement yet still has lawful possession, and an unauthorized driver who is not in lawful possession of the vehicle. The present case requires this court to clarify this distinction further.

In Fisher v. Hodge, supra, 162 Conn. 369, we stated that "[t]he purpose of [§ 14-154a] was not primarily to give the injured person a right of recovery against the tortious operator of the car, but to protect the safety of traffic upon highways by providing an incentive to him who rented motor vehicles to rent them to competent and careful operators by making him liable for damage resulting from the tortious operation of the rented vehicles.... The rental of motor vehicles to any but competent and careful operators, or to persons of unknown responsibility, would be liable to result in injury to the public upon or near highways, and this imminent danger justified, as a reasonable exercise of the police power, this statute, which requires all who engage in this business to become responsible for any injury inflicted upon the public by the tortious operation of the rented motor vehicle." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Thus, we recognized in Fisher that an important public policy underlying § 14-154a is to ensure that lessors rent motor vehicles only to known safe drivers. Although, in Pedevillano, we ruled contrary to our dicta in Fisher that the lessor in that case would have been liable even if the driver had been unauthorized, nothing we stated in Pedevillano suggests that we have renounced this public policy view. Indeed, this public policy supports our holding in Pedevillano that a lessor has the right to "impos[e] reasonable restrictions on the identity of those to whom it is willing to entrust its property and for whose conduct it is willing to assume risk." (Emphasis added.)...