Home Oil Co., Inc. v. Todd

• Decision Date: 26 February 1985
• Citation: 487 A.2d 1095,195 Conn. 333
• Parties: The HOME OIL COMPANY, INC. v. Nancy Royce TODD.
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court

Page 1095

487 A.2d 1095

195 Conn. 333

The HOME OIL COMPANY, INC. v. Nancy Royce TODD.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued Dec. 5, 1984.

Decided Feb. 26, 1985.

Russell A. Kimes, Jr., New Canaan, for appellant (defendant).

Allan M. Cane, Fairfield, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before PETERS, C.J., and ARTHUR H. HEALEY, SHEA, DANNEHY and COVELLO, JJ.

ARTHUR H. HEALEY, Associate Justice.

This appeal presents the question whether the trial court erred in striking the defendant's claim for a trial by jury. The plaintiff, The Home Oil Company, Inc., initiated a contract action against the defendant, Nancy Royce Todd, seeking the balance of monies due for a new heating oil system installed for her by the plaintiff, for heating fuel oil delivered and service provided to her, and for attorney's fees. ¹ The complaint in eight counts was filed on August 5, 1982. On December 15, 1982, the defendant filed an "Answer and Counterclaim" to the plaintiff's complaint. In the defendant's counterclaim, she alleged the plaintiff's failure to repair promptly another heating system which purportedly caused "great damage" to her property; reliance on the plaintiff's promise to repair this system; and negligence on the plaintiff's part in its failure to repair it promptly.

On January 19, 1983, ² the plaintiff answered the counterclaim with a "Reply to Counter Claim" and a "Reply in Avoidance ... to the Counter Claim." ³ In essence, this pleading, according to the defendant raised "a defense analogous to contributory negligence"; it also alleged that the service contract expressly excluded damages resulting from "external causes." The gravamen of the plaintiff's claim in this pleading was that the defendant's failure to order oil for the heating system in question caused its breakdown and any damages resulting therefrom. Simultaneously, the plaintiff's counsel filed a claim for the trial list, indicating his election that this dispute be tried to the court.

A "pretrial conference" between the parties was held on April 7, 1983. Because this did not resolve the dispute, the court informed the parties that the matter would be tried on April 12, 1983. The record and court file disclose that the defendant claimed the case for jury trial on the date of the conference. Apparently, there had been no discussion at the pretrial conference regarding the defendant's intent to claim a jury trial. The case, however, was not tried on April 12 because the defendant was away on vacation and, therefore, was unavailable. The court continued the matter until May 4, 1983.

On April 25, 1983, the plaintiff filed a motion to strike the defendant's claim for the jury docket, ⁴ asserting that the defendant's jury claim was not filed timely in accordance with General Statutes § 52-215. ⁵ According to the plaintiff, the jury claim had not been filed within ten days from the time that the issues had been joined by the plaintiff's "reply" to the counterclaim. The defendant thereafter filed a "Reply to Matters in Avoidance" ⁶ on April 27, 1983, in which she denied the basic allegations set forth in the plaintiff's "Reply in Avoidance to ... Counter Claim" that had been filed previously on January 19, 1983.

The case came to trial on May 4, 1983. Before the presentation of evidence, the trial court denied from the bench the defendant's claim for jury trial; defense counsel took timely exception to the ruling. ⁷ The trial proceeded and the court rendered judgment against the defendant on all eight counts of the plaintiff's complaint. Because the defendant again was on vacation and did not appear for this trial, the court, upon the plaintiff's motion, nonsuited the defendant on her counterclaim.

On appeal, the defendant claims only that the trial court erred in striking her claim for a jury trial. She contends that the plaintiff's pleading in reply to her counterclaim set forth matters in avoidance that required a further pleading by her in order to close the pleadings. The defendant also maintains that the pleadings were not closed until she filed her "Reply to Matters in Avoidance," and, therefore, her claim for a jury was filed within the time limitations of § 52-215 because it was asserted prior to the date of her reply. We agree, and find error.

We have stated that General Statutes § 52-215 "provides two periods of time within which an issue proper for trial by jury may be entered in the jury docket. One is 'within thirty days after the return day.' The other is contained in the provision which reads, in part, as follows: 'When ... an issue of fact is joined, the case may, within ten days after such issue of fact is joined, be entered in the docket as a jury case upon the request of either party made to the clerk ....' Leahey v. Heasley, 127 Conn. 332, 334, 16 A.2d 609 [1940]." Amercoat Corporation v. Transamerica Ins. Co., 165 Conn. 729, 732, 345 A.2d 30 (1974), cert. denied sub nom. Pfotzer v. Amercoat Corporation, 431 U.S. 967, 97 S.Ct. 2926, 53 L.Ed.2d 1063 (1977); see also Noren v. Wood, 72 Conn. 96, 98, 43 A. 649 (1899). It is the latter period that is involved in the present appeal.

To ascertain whether the defendant's claim for a jury trial was timely, we must determine when the ten day period began to run, that is, "[w]hen ... an issue of fact [was] joined." General Statutes § 52-215. We have said in this context that "[t]he word 'when' has been construed to mean 'whenever.' Noren v. Wood, [supra, 98, 43 A. 649]." Amercoat v. Transamerica Ins. Co., supra, 165 Conn. at 732, 345 A.2d 30. We also have recognized that the issue of fact "must be formed by the pleadings in writing. See Avon Mfg. Co. v. Andrews, 30 Conn. 476, 488 [1862]." Amercoat Corporation v. Transamerica Ins. Co., supra. Accordingly, we examine both the pleadings of the parties and the time frame within which they had been filed in the court below.

At the outset, we emphasize that the construction of a pleading is a question ultimately for the court. See generally McAdam v. Sheldon, 153 Conn. 278, 280, 216 A.2d 193 (1965); Cook v. Miller, 103 Conn. 267, 278, 130 A. 571 (1925). When a case requires this court to determine the nature of a pleading filed by a party, we are not required to accept the label affixed to that pleading by the party. In this vein, we analyze the pleadings at issue in the present case.

The plaintiff's complaint alleged in eight counts monies due in contract for services rendered and oil delivered and for attorney's fees incurred in this action. In her answer filed on December 15, 1982, the defendant admitted all the allegations contained in the complaint except those claiming attorney's fees. With her answer, the defendant also filed properly a counterclaim in three counts. See Practice Book § 116. ⁸ In response to the defendant's counterclaim, the plaintiff filed a pleading entitled a "Reply to Counter Claim" as well as the following: "As and for a First Reply in Avoidance to the First and Second Count of the Counter Claim" and "As and for a Second Reply in Avoidance to the First and Second Count of the Counter Claim." See footnote 3, supra. This pleading by the plaintiff, in its entirety, addressed only matters concerning the defendant's counterclaim; it did not constitute a pleading responding directly to the defendant's answer to the complaint. See Practice Book §§ 171, 172.

Under our rules of practice, a counterclaim, if proper, is an independent action. See Practice Book §§ 116, 168, 169; Hanson Development Co. v. East Great Plains Shopping Center, Inc., 195 Conn. 60, 63, 485 A.2d 1296 (1985); see also Schurman v. Schurman, 188 Conn. 268, 270, 449 A.2d 169 (1982). It has been defined as "a cause of action existing in favor of a defendant against a plaintiff which a defendant pleads to diminish, defeat or otherwise affect a plaintiff's claim and also allows a recovery by the defendant." 1 Stephenson, Conn.Civ.Proc. (2d Ed.1982 Sup.) § 129b. For purposes of examining pleadings relative to a counterclaim then, the party asserting it becomes the "plaintiff" on the counterclaim. Accordingly, the general rule is that "[a] counterclaim should be pleaded in exactly the same way the claim would be pleaded in the complaint in an independent action." 1 Stephenson, Conn.Civ.Proc. (2d Ed.1970) § 129g; see also Practice Book § 168 (a counterclaim "shall be pleaded and replied to according to the rules governing complaints and answers"). The pleading containing the counterclaim serves as the "complaint," and the "defendant" on the counterclaim, the plaintiff Home Oil in this case, responds to it by filing an answer to the counterclaim. See Practice Book §§ 112, 168. ⁹ Subsequent to the filing of the answer to the counterclaim by the defendant on the counterclaim, the plaintiff on the counterclaim, i.e., the defendant in the original action, may have to file a "reply" in response to the answer to the counterclaim. See Practice Book §§ 112, 171, 172. We examine the pleadings relative to the counterclaim in the present case under these procedural guidelines.

As stated above, the defendant Todd properly asserted a counterclaim in three counts which she had filed with her answer to the complaint. In response to this counterclaim, the plaintiff filed a pleading entitled "Reply to Counter Claim." That pleading, under the circumstances of this case, despite its label, plainly constituted an answer to the allegations of the defendant's three count counterclaim. That the parties and the trial court mistakenly construed this pleading as a reply rather than as an answer to the counterclaim is not controlling for resolution of this appeal. See Practice Book § 3060D; Mizla v. Depalo, 183 Conn. 59, 63, 438 A.2d 820 (1981); Stoni v. Wasicki, 179 Conn. 372, 374, 377, 426 A.2d 774 (1979). In conjunction with the "Reply to Counter Claim," the plaintiff also asserted two "Repl[ies] in Avoidance to the First and Second Count of the Counterclaim," to which we have...