Martino v. Grace-New Haven Community Hospital
| Decision Date | 27 January 1959 |
| Docket Number | GRACE-NEW |
| Citation | 148 A.2d 259,146 Conn. 735 |
| Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
| Parties | Lucy MARTINO v.HAVEN COMMUNITY HOSPITAL. Supreme Court of Errors of Connecticut |
Herman S. Hodes, New Haven, for appellant (plaintiff).
Morris Tyler, New Haven, with whom, on the brief, was William R. Murphy, New Haven, for appellee (defendant).
Before DALY, C. J., and BALDWIN, KING, MURPHY and MELLITZ, JJ.
The plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for personal injuries alleged to have been caused, while she was a patient in the defendant's hospital, by the negligence of the defendant and its servants and agents in failing to provide the bed occupied by her with railings to prevent her from falling from it and in failing to exercise reasonable care to prevent her from falling, and by the negligence of the defendant in failing to exercise reasonable care in the selection and employment of its agents and servants. The plaintiff concedes that the defendant was a charitable organization. At the conclusion of the presentation of evidence to the jury, the court directed a verdict for the defendant and refused to set it aside upon the plaintiff's motion. The plaintiff has appealed, assigning error in the rulings of the court with respect to the verdict. She also claimed that the court erred in denying her request for a finding and in failing to find certain facts. As these last two assignments are not pursued in her brief, they are disregarded. Bridgeport Hydraulic Co. v. Town of Stratford, 139 Conn. 388, 390, 94 A.2d 1. The decisive issue is, of course, whether the evidence could, under our law, have supported a verdict for the plaintiff.
The evidence was that the hospital routine was in accord with standard practices obtaining in similar hospitals. The plaintiff produced no evidence to the contrary. Although the jury may have disbelieved the defendant's witnesses, it was not entitled to conclude that the opposite was true. Edwards v. Grace Hospital Society, 130 Conn. 568, 575, 36 A.2d 273. Corporate neglect means neglect of the officers or managing directors who constitute the governing board of a corporation, as distinguished from the negligence of its ordinary employees, such as, in this case, the superintendent, supervisors, physicians and nurses of the defendant. If there was neglect in any of the respects alleged, but it was negligence of the employees, there is no liability on the part of the corporation. A charitable corporation is not liable for the...
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State v. Copas
...191 Conn. 46, 56, 463 A.2d 578 (1983); Novak v. Anderson, 178 Conn. 506, 508, 423 A.2d 147 (1979); Martino v. Grace-New Haven Community Hospital, 146 Conn. 735, 736, 148 A.2d 259 (1959). Merely from the disbelief of one party's testimony, a trier of fact cannot infer that an opposing party'......
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United States ex rel. Carbone v. Manson, H-77-310 and H-77-311.
...in the brief are considered abandoned. Corriveau v. Jenkins Bros., 144 Conn. 383, 386, 132 A.2d 67 (1957); Martino v. Grace New Haven Hospital, 146 Conn. 735, 736, 148 A.2d 259 (1959); Fleischer v. Kregelstein, 150 Conn. 158, 159, 187 A.2d 241 (1962); Stoner v. Stoner, 163 Conn. 345, 348, 3......
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Schulte v. Missionaries of La Salette Corp. of Mo.
...388, 396. Here we have more,--an express refusal of the legislature to act; the words of the court in Martino v. Grace-New Haven Community Hospital, 146 Conn. 735, 148 A.2d 259, 260-261, are appropriate: 'The plaintiff contends that the doctrine of charitable immunity, so far as it applies ......
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Builders Service Corp., Inc. v. Planning & Zoning Com'n of Town of East Hampton
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