Palkimas v. Fernandez
Decision Date | 04 August 2015 |
Docket Number | No. 36548.,36548. |
Citation | 122 A.3d 704,159 Conn.App. 129 |
Parties | Richard PALKIMAS v. Oscar FERNANDEZ et al. |
Court | Connecticut Court of Appeals |
Richard H.G. Cunningham, for the appellant (plaintiff).
Robert D. Laurie, with whom, on the brief, were Heather L. McCoy and Shrina B. Faldu, West Hartford, for the appellee (defendant Nationwide Insurance Company of America).
DiPENTIMA, C.J., and MULLINS and BEAR, Js.
The plaintiff, Richard Palkimas, appeals from the judgment of the trial court rendered in favor of the defendant Nationwide Insurance Company of America.1 On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court improperly (1) determined that the defendant was not liable for the alleged negligence of Hygenix, Inc., and ServPro, which were independent contractors, and (2) found that the defendant did not cause damage to the plaintiff's property. We conclude that the court's finding of a lack of proximate cause is not clearly erroneous.2 Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the court.3
The memorandum of decision of the court set forth the following relevant facts. The plaintiff owned a home located at 350 Soundview Avenue in Stamford (house). In January, 2006, the plaintiff hired Oscar D. Fernandez “to restore windows in the house, perform exterior and interior painting, and lead pain[t] encapsulation.” At the time, the defendant was Fernandez' insurance carrier. In September, 2006, near the end of the renovation, an “unknown person” used a disconnected toilet, which resulted in water and waste flooding various rooms of the house, causing substantial damage.
Hygenix, Inc., and ServPro—both independent contractors—were hired to remediate the flooded area. During the remediation process, the heat to the house was turned off. At trial, the plaintiff claimed that the defendant ordered the heat turned off. The defendant, however, insisted that it never made such request and, moreover, that it was the plaintiff who had ordered the heat turned off.
Once the remediation was finished, the plaintiff returned to the house and discovered damage to the horsehair plaster walls.4 Specifically, the plaintiff observed cracks in the walls and found the walls soft to the touch. Afterward, the plaintiff ascertained that most of the plaster keyways had been broken.5 The plaintiff claimed that turning off the heat damaged the horsehair plaster walls by exposing the walls to freezing winter temperatures and moisture. The defendant maintained that neither the temperature during the winter of 2006 to 2007 nor the moisture in the house caused the damage to the horsehair plaster walls.
On January 27, 2009, the plaintiff commenced this action with a three count complaint. On March 22, 2013, the plaintiff withdrew the action as to Fernandez and Oscar Painting Contractor, LLC. On June 10, 2013, the plaintiff filed an amended complaint alleging that the defendant was negligent because it “should have provided for an alternative source of heat to prevent the fracturing and shattering of plaster ... should have assured that the remediation was being done in an expeditious fashion instead of prolonging the process allowing the property to be exposed to freezing temperatures for excessive periods of time ... [and] failed to appreciate the dangers inherent in allowing a home of this nature to be subject to freezing temperatures for prolonged periods of time.” The defendant filed its answer and special defenses on June 12, 2013, denying the claim of negligence.
A trial to the court began on June 17, 2013, and lasted four days. On January 2, 2014, the court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant. Specifically, it found that the defendant was not in control of the independent contractors and that the plaintiff failed to prove proximate causation. This appeal followed. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.
The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether the court properly found that the plaintiff failed to establish proximate causation. In his appellate brief, the plaintiff argues that the court improperly determined that the opinion of the plaintiff's expert witness was unpersuasive because his conclusions were unverified by “any scientific experiments or tests at the [house]....” The defendant, however, asserts that the court, as trier of fact, properly weighed the competing experts' testimony as to proximate causation and correctly found that the plaintiff failed to prove proximate causation. We conclude that the trial court's finding was not clearly erroneous.
We begin with the standard of review, which is contested by the parties. The plaintiff seeks a plenary review, while the defendant asserts that our review is subject to the clearly erroneous standard. We agree with the defendant. The court found that the plaintiff failed to prove that the damage to the horsehair plaster walls was proximately caused by the failure to heat the premises during the remediation process. “Proximate cause is ordinarily a question of fact.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Gurguis v. Frankel, 93 Conn.App. 162, 168, 888 A.2d 1083, cert. denied, 277 Conn. 916, 895 A.2d 789 (2006).
(Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Stein v. Tong, 117 Conn.App. 19, 24, 979 A.2d 494 (2009).
The elements necessary to prove an action for negligence are well established: (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks...
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...the dispatcher testified that she simply “forgot,” a jury would not be required to credit this explanation. See Palkimas v. Fernandez, 159 Conn.App. 129, 133, 122 A.3d 704 (2015) (“it is the exclusive province of the trier of fact to weigh the conflicting evidence, determine the credibility......
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Brooks v. Powers
...dispatcher testified that she simply "forgot," a jury would not be required to credit this explanation. See Palkimas v. Fernandez, 159 Conn. App. 129, 133, 122 A.3d 704 (2015) ("it is the exclusive province of the trier of fact to weigh the conflicting evidence, determine the credibility of......
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