Magnon v. Glickman

• Decision Date: 11 August 1981
• Citation: 440 A.2d 909,185 Conn. 234
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Aline MAGNON v. Herman GLICKMAN, et al.

Page 909

440 A.2d 909

185 Conn. 234

Aline MAGNON v. Herman GLICKMAN, et al.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued May 6, 1981.

Decided Aug. 11, 1981.

Jacob H. Channin, Hartford, with whom, on the brief, was David Roth, West Hartford, for appellants (defendants).

Lawrence M. Lapine, Stamford, with whom, on the brief, was Robert S. Bello, Stamford, for appellee (plaintiff).

Before BOGDANSKI, C. J., and PETERS, HEALEY, PARSKEY and ARMENTANO, JJ.

ARTHUR H. HEALEY, Associate Justice.

This is an action for personal injuries arising from a fall which occurred on December 29, 1972, in the corridor of the defendants' building located in Stamford. The plaintiff alleged that she fell because the corridor floor was slippery and/or covered with a sticky substance, which condition, she claimed, was due to the negligence of the defendants. After a trial to the jury, a verdict was returned in favor of the plaintiff. Upon the denial of their motion to set aside the verdict and their motion for judgment, ¹ the defendants have appealed. ²

The jury could have reasonably found the following facts: The defendants, Herman and Lawrence Glickman, are the owners of an apartment/office building complex in Stamford. Lawrence, who is the son of Herman, managed the building. The plaintiff began working in the defendants' building in early December, 1972. She was employed by the insurance agency of Casolo, Friedman & Paspalis & Co., which had its office located on the first floor of the building.

On December 29, 1972, at approximately 1 p. m., the plaintiff left the office through the rear door, which exits into the interior corridor. The plaintiff had been in the hallway perhaps once previously. As she exited through the door and took a few steps, she noticed that the floor was very slippery and her feet began to slide. Although walking at a normal pace, her feet slid from under her and flew up in the air and she fell. Her employer, Louis Casolo, who witnessed the incident, assisted the plaintiff back to the office.

Later that day, the plaintiff reported her fall to the superintendent of the building and told him that she had fallen on the slippery floor. The superintendent wrote a memo to the defendant Lawrence Glickman on that date to that effect. Later that day the plaintiff pointed out to the janitor the spot where she had fallen.

The hallway floor, on which the accident occurred, for several months prior to December 29, 1972, not only had a highly polished and wet look but, in addition, was slippery. Others who worked in the plaintiff's office and who frequently used this hallway noticed that the floor was slippery and, therefore, walked with caution. Prior to the date in question, Casolo had, in fact, mentioned to the custodian that the floor was slippery and questioned his constant buffing of the floor. Furthermore, on a weekend during the same month, prior to the plaintiff's fall, Casolo's children, who had accompanied him to his office, slid on the first floor corridor floor.

I

The defendants' first three claims of error are directed at the trial court's refusal to grant their motion for directed verdict and their motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

A

The defendants first claim that the "evidence presented by the plaintiff did not remove the cause of plaintiff's fall from the realm of speculation and was insufficient to support a judgment against the defendants." This contention appears to be based on their argument that "the jury could not have concluded that the fall was caused solely by the slipperiness of the floor and not by the foreign substance."

We have recently stated that, "(i)f, on the evidence, the jury could reasonably have decided as they did, we will not find error in the trial court's acceptance of the verdict. Rood v. Russo, 161 Conn. 1, 3, 283 A.2d 220 (1971); Giambartolomei v. Rocky DeCarlo & Sons, 143 Conn. 468, 474, 123 A.2d 760 (1956). A jury verdict should not be disturbed 'unless it is against the evidence or its manifest injustice is so plain as to justify the belief that the jury or some of its members were influenced by ignorance, prejudice, corruption or partiality.' Martino v. Palladino, 143 Conn. 547, 548, 123 A.2d 872 (1956). Upon review, by the trial court on a motion to upset the jury's verdict and in this court, 'the evidence must be given the most favorable construction in support of the verdict of which it is reasonably capable.' Horvath v. Tontini, 126 Conn. 462, 464, 11 A.2d 846 (1940)." Kalleher v. Orr, --- Conn. ---, ---, 438 A.2d 843 (42 Conn.L.J., No. 33, pp. 14, 15) (1981).

Upon review, we conclude that there was sufficient evidence to support the jury verdict. The plaintiff herself testified that the "foreign sticky" substance on the floor did not cause her to fall. ³ In addition, Casolo, who witnessed the plaintiff's fall, testified that he saw the plaintiff's feet "slide from under her" and she fell with her "feet up in the air." Combined with the other testimony that the floor was slippery, ⁴ we do not overturn the trial judge's ruling or the jury verdict.

B

Secondly, the defendants claim that the court erred in failing to grant their motions because the evidence presented was "insufficient to show a defective condition in that the evidence was solely a subjective description of the floor as slippery." They claim that under our prior cases involving similar fact situations, the evidence was not sufficient to show that the floor was "defective." We disagree.

We initially note that a jury "may make all inferences and conclusions which, in their judgment and discretion, may logically and reasonably be drawn from the facts in evidence.... The test is, not that the inference must unavoidably and unerringly point in one direction, but, rather, whether the rational mind could with reasonableness draw the inference.... If two rational minds could reasonably draw different inferences from facts in evidence, whether controverted or uncontroverted, the decision is for the jury." Donovan v. Connecticut Co., 86 Conn. 82, 86, 84 A. 288 (1912).

In Gray v. Fitzgerald & Platt, Inc., 144 Conn. 57, 127 A.2d 76 (1956), as in the present case, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant was negligent in maintaining the floor in a slippery and dangerous condition. The plaintiff in Gray, as the plaintiff in this case, made no allegation that the defendant breached any duty in polishing the floor. See Smith v. Union & New Haven Trust Co., 121 Conn. 369, 185 A. 81 (1936). We noted in Gray, 144 Conn. p. 59, 127 A.2d 76, that "the plaintiff was not limited to proof that the slippery condition of the floor resulted from the application of wax to it. She could make out a case by proving that the defendant was negligent in maintaining the floor in a slippery condition, irrespective of the cause of the slipperiness." We upheld a verdict for the plaintiff, stating that "(u)pon the evidence that the floor was so slippery that the plaintiff's son could slide upon it, the jury were entitled to infer that the defendant had failed to use reasonable care to keep its premises reasonably safe for its business visitors." Gray v. Fitzgerald & Platt, Inc., supra, 59, 127 A.2d 76.

The defendants claim in their brief that in the present case, there was not sufficient evidence "to fall within the reasoning of the Gray case ...." We disagree. On the basis of the previously described evidence, it was not unreasonable for the jury to find that the defendants maintained the floor in a defective, i.e., slippery and dangerous, condition.

C

The defendants also claim that the trial court was in error in denying their motions because "there was insufficient evidence that the defendants had actual or constructive notice of the allegedly defective condition." On the basis of our review of the evidence, as previously summarized, and in light of the great weight to be accorded to a jury verdict and the trial court's ruling on a motion to upset the verdict, we find no error. Not only was there evidence that the slippery condition existed from May, 1972, ⁵ to December, 1972, but there was testimony that Casolo, prior to the incident in question, had notified the janitor that the floor was slippery. ⁶

II

The defendants' next claim is that the trial court erred in allowing one of their witnesses to testify that he was employed by a liability insurance carrier who insured the defendants. The defendants offered as a witness Ronald Patterson, an employee of the Greater New York Mutual Insurance Group, the liability carrier for the defendants, for the purpose of establishing the chain of custody with regard to two exhibits sought to be introduced by the defendants. On direct examination by the defendants' counsel, the witness testified that his occupation was that of an investigator for "a company." On cross-examination, plaintiff's counsel, over the defendants' objection elicited that the witness worked for a liability insurance carrier which insured the defendants. ⁷

Generally, in negligence actions, evidence that the defendant carries liability insurance is inadmissible. See Walker v. New Haven Hotel Co., 95 Conn. 231, 235, 111 A. 59 (1920); see 29 Am.Jur.2d, Evidence § 404. This rule, however, is not without exception. See, e.g., Gigliotti v. United Illuminating Co., 151 Conn. 114, 122, 193 A.2d 718 (1963) ("the fact that the contract contained references to insurance could not operate to exclude those portions if they were otherwise admissible and of probative value."); see also Guarnaccia v. Wiecenski, 130 Conn. 20, 25, 31 A.2d 464 (1943); Muraszki v. William L. Clifford, Inc., 129 Conn. 123, 125, 128, 26 A.2d 578 (1942). "It is usually held that it is permissible for plaintiff's counsel, when acting in good faith, to show the relationship between a witness and defendant's insurance company where such evidence tends to show the interest or bias of the witness and affects the weight to be...