McDermott v. Calvary Baptist Church

• Decision Date: 29 April 2003
• Docket Number: (SC 16712)
• Citation: 263 Conn. 378,819 A.2d 795
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: SHARON McDERMOTT v. CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH ET AL.

263 Conn. 378

819 A.2d 795

SHARON McDERMOTT v. CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH ET AL.

(SC 16712)

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued February 10, 2003.

Officially released April 29, 2003.

Borden, Norcott, Palmer, Vertefeuille and Zarella, Js. David A. Slossberg, with whom, on the brief, was J. Daniel Sagarin, for the appellant (plaintiff).

J. Kevin Golger, with whom, on the brief, was George L. Holmes, Jr., for the appellee (named defendant).

James E. Coyne, for the appellee (defendant town of Darien).

Opinion

NORCOTT, J.

The sole issue in this certified appeal is whether the Appellate Court, in affirming the judgment rendered on the jury verdict in favor of the defendants, Calvary Baptist Church (church) and the town of Darien (town), properly concluded that the trial court's instruction to the jury was proper. We conclude that the Appellate Court properly determined that the plaintiff, Sharon McDermott, was not prejudiced by the failure of the trial court to instruct the jury on the law of agency. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.

The plaintiff brought this action in negligence alleging that: (1) the defendants failed to take reasonable precautions to inspect a tree located on the church's property; (2) the defendants knew, or in the exercise of reasonable care, should have known of the danger that the tree posed to persons lawfully on the premises; (3) the defendants failed to warn the plaintiff of a dangerous condition; and (4) the town abdicated its responsibility to protect patrons using a municipal parking lot. At trial, the plaintiff requested a jury instruction on the law of agency.¹ The trial court denied the plaintiff's request, and charged the jury accordingly.² The jury, after answering a set of special interrogatories, found in favor of the defendants. Subsequently, the plaintiff moved to set aside the verdict on the ground that, inter alia, she was prejudiced by the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the law of agency. The trial court denied the motion and rendered judgment in favor of the defendants. Thereafter, the plaintiff appealed to the Appellate Court, which affirmed the trial court's judgment.³McDermott v. Calvary Baptist Church, 68 Conn. App. 284, 297, 791 A.2d 602 (2002). We granted the plaintiff's petition for certification to appeal, limited to the following issue: "Did the Appellate Court properly determine that the trial court properly instructed the jury with respect to the issue of agency?" McDermott v. Calvary Baptist Church, 260 Conn. 907, 908, 795 A.2d 545 (2002).

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts, as set forth in the opinion of the Appellate Court. "On July 26, 1994, the plaintiff drove to a municipal parking lot in Darien that served a number of local businesses, including a restaurant at which the plaintiff was planning to dine that evening. The parking lot bordered property owned by the [church]. A hedgerow of maple, ash and ailanthus trees, planted on the church property, stood along the boundary between the two properties. The plaintiff parked near the boundary and, when she exited her vehicle, an overhanging branch fell from one of the ailanthus trees and struck her on the head, knocking her to the ground and causing various injuries." McDermott v. Calvary Baptist Church, supra, 68 Conn. App. 286.

The plaintiff claims that the trial court's failure to instruct the jury on the law of agency was improper because principles of agency law were the basis for her attempt to hold the defendants liable for her injuries. Both defendants claim that the trial court's charge was sufficient to provide guidance to the jury in rendering its decision. Specifically, the town claims that the trial court explicitly charged the jury regarding the liability of the town for the conduct of its agents. The church claims that the trial court's charge adequately instructed the jury to evaluate the actions of the church's agents in deciding if the church was liable to the plaintiff for negligence. We conclude that, within the factual context of the present case, the trial court's instruction was proper. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Appellate Court.

"The standard of review for a challenge to the propriety of a jury instruction is well established. [J]ury instructions are to be read as a whole, and instructions claimed to be improper are read in the context of the entire charge. . . . A jury charge is to be considered from the standpoint of its effect on the jury in guiding it to a correct verdict. . . . The test to determine if a jury charge is proper is whether it fairly presents the case to the jury in such a way that injustice is not done to either party under the established rules of law." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Pestey v. Cushman, 259 Conn. 345, 351, 788 A.2d 496 (2002). "[I]nstructions to the jury need not be in the precise language of a request." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Scanlon v. Connecticut Light & Power Co., 258 Conn. 436, 446, 782 A.2d 87 (2001). Moreover, "[j]ury instructions need not be exhaustive, perfect or technically accurate, so long as they are correct in law, adapted to the issues and sufficient for the guidance of the jury." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.

In order to analyze properly the plaintiff's claim, it is useful to examine the elements of an agency relationship so that we can determine if the trial court's instruction gave sufficient guidance to the jury in making its determination. "Agency is defined as the fiduciary relationship which results from manifestation of consent by one person to another that the other shall act on his behalf and subject to his control, and consent by the other so to act . . . . Restatement (Second), 1 Agency § 1." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Beckenstein v. Potter & Carrier, Inc., 191 Conn. 120, 132, 464 A.2d 68 (1983). "Thus, the three elements required to show the existence of an agency relationship include: (1) a manifestation by the principal that the agent will act for him; (2) acceptance by the agent of the undertaking; and (3) an understanding between the parties that the principal will be in control of the undertaking." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 133. Moreover, "it is a general rule of agency law that the principal in an agency relationship is bound by, and liable for, the acts in which his agent engages with authority from the principal, and within the scope of the [agency relationship]." Maharishi School of Vedic Sciences, Inc. (Connecticut) v. Connecticut Constitution Associates Ltd. Partnership, 260 Conn. 598, 606, 799 A.2d 1027 (2002). "The rule charging the principal with an agent's knowledge is not necessarily restricted to matters of which the agent has actual knowledge, and ... the principal is charged with the knowledge of that which the agent, by ordinary care, could have known, especially where the agent has received sufficient information to awaken inquiry." 3 Am. Jur. 2d 650, Agency § 277 (2002). Because both defendants, the church and the town, were entities, they could act only through their agents. See Maharishi School of Vedic Sciences, Inc. (Connecticut) v. Connecticut Constitution Associates Ltd. Partnership, supra, 606; Larsen Chelsey Realty Co. v. Larsen, 232 Conn. 480, 505, 656 A.2d 1009 (1995) ("[i]t is well settled . . . that a corporation is a distinct legal entity that can act only through its agents").

In the present case, the plaintiff alleged that an agent for the church, Brian Maher, a parishioner who, as a licensed arborist, maintained the trees for the church, and an agent of the town, Marshall Cotta, the tree warden, were negligent because they had notice, or should have had notice, that the tree that injured the plaintiff posed a danger. The plaintiff claimed, therefore, that the defendants were negligent in failing to remove it. Specifically, with regard to the church, the plaintiff presented the expert testimony of Terry Tattar, a professor specializing in tree pathology. During his testimony, Tattar opined that a large crack had formed in the tree at issue in the present case approximately three years before the tree fell, and that, because of the crack and the historically brittle nature of that particular species of tree, it was reasonably foreseeable that a portion of the tree would fall and injure someone in the parking lot over which it overhung. Tattar also testified that the large crack was located near the pruning cuts that Maher had performed. Additionally, Tattar concluded that the tree should have been taken down or, in the alternative, a warning sign should have been placed near the tree to prevent any injury that could result if the tree were to fall. With regard to the alleged negligence of Cotta, the plaintiff presented his testimony that he had not inspected the tree at issue in the present case, except for when he periodically parked in the municipal lot and "looked at it and saw that it had been pruned," even though he also testified that he was responsible for the maintenance of trees in public lots.

Within this factual context, we conclude that the trial court's failure to give an instruction on the law of agency was not improper. With respect to the town, it was undisputed by the parties that an agency relationship existed between the town and Cotta, and that he operated as the town's agent for the purpose of inspecting trees. See McDermott v. Calvary Baptist Church, supra, 68 Conn. App. 287-88 n.3. Moreover, the trial court, in its instruction to the jury, explicitly explained that pursuant to General Statutes § 52-557n (a), "[a] town shall be liable for damage caused by negligent acts or omissions of any employee acting within the scope of his employment or official duties." Although the court gave this charge in the context of the municipal liability statute, the only evidence presented by the plaintiff with respect to the town's...