Pellecchia v. Town of Killingly

• Decision Date: 24 December 2013
• Docket Number: No. 34690.,34690.
• Citation: 80 A.3d 931,147 Conn.App. 299
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: Anthony J. PELLECCHIA, Administrator, (Estate of Anthony E. Pellecchia), et al. v. TOWN OF KILLINGLY Et al.

147 Conn.App. 299

80 A.3d 931

Anthony J. PELLECCHIA, Administrator, (Estate of Anthony E. Pellecchia), et al.

v.TOWN OF KILLINGLY Et al.

No. 34690.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued Oct. 25, 2013.

Decided Dec. 24, 2013.

Jason L. McCoy, Vernon, for the appellants (plaintiffs).

Scott R. Ouellette, North Haven, for the appellees (named defendant et al).

DiPENTIMA, C.J., and ROBINSON and SHELDON, Js.

PER CURIAM.

The plaintiff Anthony J. Pellecchia, administrator of the estate of Anthony E. Pellecchia,¹ appeals from the judgment of the trial court dismissing his wrongful death claims against the defendants, the town of Killingly, Anthony Shippee and David Sabourin, on the ground that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate those claims because they were not brought within the applicable statute of limitations, General Statutes § 52–555, and they could not be saved by the accidental failure of suit statute, General Statutes § 52–592. We have examined the record on appeal and considered the briefs and arguments of the parties, and we conclude that the judgment of the trial court should be affirmed.²

This is the second cause of action filed by the plaintiff arising from the death of the plaintiff's decedent when, in July, 2006, his motorcycle came into contact with a downed, energized power line in Killingly. The plaintiff first brought his wrongful death action in 2008. Following a protracted series of failures to comply with the trial court's orders and the rules of practice, the trial court rendered judgment of nonsuit as to all defendants. That judgment of nonsuit was affirmed by this court. Pellecchia v. Connecticut Light & Power Co., 126 Conn.App. 903, 12 A.3d 641 (2011).

In 2011, the plaintiff filed this action against the defendants. The defendants moved to dismiss, claiming that the action was not brought within the two year statuteof limitations for wrongful death actions pursuant to § 52–555 and that it was not saved by the accidental failure of suit statute, § 52–592.³ The trial court agreed, finding that the 2008 action did not fail due to a “matter of form,” as contemplated by § 52–592, in that that failure was not the result of “mistake, inadvertence or excusable neglect.” Rather, the court found that the judgment of nonsuit was rendered in the 2008 action on the basis of “a knowing, blatant and egregious disregard for the court and the rules of practice.”

Because the trial court thoroughly addressed the arguments raised in this appeal, we adopt its well reasoned decision as a statement of the facts and the applicable law on the issue. See Pellecchia v. Killingly, 53 Conn. Supp., A.3d (2012). Any further discussion by this court would serve no useful purpose. See, e.g., Woodruff v. Hemingway, 297 Conn. 317, 321, 2 A.3d 857 (2010).

The judgment is affirmed.

1. Pellecchia also brought this action in his individual capacity. For convenience, we refer to him in this opinion as the plaintiff.

2. In Pellecchia v. Connecticut Light & Power Co., 139 Conn.App. 88, 54 A.3d 658 (2012), ...