Rioux v. Barry

• Decision Date: 31 July 2007
• Docket Number: No. 17705.,17705.
• Citation: 283 Conn. 338,927 A.2d 304
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: Wayne RIOUX v. Timothy F. BARRY et al.

927 A.2d 304

283 Conn. 338

Wayne RIOUX v. Timothy F. BARRY et al.

No. 17705.

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued March 7, 2007.

Decided July 31, 2007.

Alinor C. Sterling, with whom was Ira Grudberg, New Haven, for the appellant (plaintiff).

Joseph A. Jordano, assistant attorney general, with whom, on the brief, was Richard Blumenthal, attorney general, for the appellees (defendants Timothy F. Barry, Karoline Keith, John Sipper, John Bement, Mark Laurentano, Kathy Laurentano, Edward Capowich, Marisol LaBoy, Edward Lynch, Robert Duffy, Thomas Snyder and Timothy Loomis).

Sheila A. Huddleston, Hartford, with whom, on the brief, were Shari M. Goodstein and Eric Lubochinski, Stamford, for the appellee (defendant Mark Wallack).

BORDEN, NORCOTT, KATZ, VERTEFEUILLE and ZARELLA, Js.

BORDEN, J.

The plaintiff, Wayne Rioux, appeals¹ from the judgment of the trial court granting the motion to dismiss filed by the defendants² based on the court's conclusion that the action was barred by the doctrine of absolute immunity. The plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly determined that the defendants were entitled to absolute immunity against the plaintiff's claims for vexatious litigation³ and intentional interference with contractual or beneficial relations. We reverse the trial court's judgment as to the vexatious litigation claim, and affirm the court's judgment as to the claim for intentional interference with contractual or beneficial relations.

The plaintiff brought this action against the defendants, alleging vexatious litigation and intentional interference with contractual or beneficial relations. The trial court granted the defendants' motion to dismiss the action, and rendered judgment accordingly. This appeal followed.

"Because in this appeal we review the trial court's ruling on a motion to dismiss, we take the facts to be those alleged in the complaint, construing them in a manner most favorable to the pleader." Beecher v. Mohegan Tribe of Indians, 282 Conn. 130, 132, 918 A.2d 880 (2007). The following facts were alleged in the plaintiff's complaint. In August, 2001, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Lynch assigned the plaintiff, who had served for approximately twenty-three years as a member of the Connecticut state police and held the rank of lieutenant, to be the commanding officer of the Troop B barracks in North Canaan. In assigning the plaintiff to his new position, Lynch informed the plaintiff that Troop B was "low in compliance" and instructed him to "`clean up'" Troop B and its personnel. In implementing Lynch's order, the plaintiff instituted many reforms pertaining to the management and personnel evaluation of Troop B, including stand-up roll calls, and regulations regarding uniforms, personal appearance and accountability for abuse of sick leave.

The plaintiff further alleged that the defendants resented the tighter discipline imposed upon them by the reforms that he had implemented, and that, as early as June, 2002, the defendants conspired to "`get rid'" of him. The plaintiff also alleged that in June, 2002, Troopers John Sipper, John Bement and Edward Capowich, all of whom were union representatives, informed Trooper Mark Wallack, the union president, of the troopers' intention to "`get rid'" of the plaintiff, and that Wallack sent a written questionnaire to the members of Troop B, asking them to rate the plaintiff's performance and to voice any additional comments or concerns. Troopers were allowed to answer anonymously. The plaintiff alleged that this survey was part of the plan to "`get rid'" of him.

In her response to the survey, Detective Karoline Keith claimed that the plaintiff had engaged in conduct that constituted sexual harassment. Sipper and other union representatives subsequently alerted persons in the state police high command of the claims that Keith had made in her response to the survey, which resulted in the initiation of an investigation of the plaintiff by the internal affairs division. The plaintiff alleged that Keith's statements, which she persisted in making throughout the internal affairs investigation and elaborated upon, were false and had been made with the intent of initiating an internal affairs investigation of him and of causing his suspension and termination from the state police. The plaintiff further alleged that Marisol Laboy and Troopers Kathy Laurentano and Mark Laurentano corroborated these false statements with the intent of ending the plaintiff's career as a police officer.

The internal affairs investigation into Keith's allegations eventually resulted in a finding that the plaintiff had violated the provisions of the department of public safety's administration and operation manual that prohibit the use of improper language and sexual harassment. As a result, the plaintiff was suspended for thirty days without pay. The plaintiff appealed his suspension to the appeal board, which found that the allegations against the plaintiff were not supported by credible evidence. Specifically, the appeal board found that the testimony of all of the state's witnesses, particularly that of Keith, was so lacking in credibility that it appeared to have been fabricated prior to her appearance before the board. Accordingly, the appeal board sustained the plaintiff's appeal, dismissed the charges against him, and rescinded his suspension.

The plaintiff claims on appeal that the trial court improperly concluded that absolute immunity barred his claims of vexatious litigation and intentional interference with contractual or beneficial relations. Because the resolution of this claim requires us to consider the trial court's ultimate legal conclusion and its resulting judgment of dismissal, our review is de novo. Cox v. Aiken, 278 Conn. 204, 210-11, 897 A.2d 71(2006). We conclude, that, in the context of a quasi-judicial proceeding, absolute immunity does not attach to statements that provide the ground for the tort of vexatious litigation, but does bar a suit alleging that those same statements constituted an intentional interference with contractual or beneficial relations. Because we base those conclusions on the fundamental purpose underlying the doctrine of absolute immunity, we preliminarily review that doctrine and its underlying purpose.

The doctrine of absolute immunity as applied to statements made in the context of judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings is rooted in the public policy of encouraging witnesses, both complaining and testimonial, to come forward and testify in either criminal or civil actions. The purpose of affording absolute immunity to those who provide information in connection with judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings is "that in certain situations the public interest in having people speak freely outweighs the risk that individuals will occasionally abuse the privilege by making false and malicious statements." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Chadha v. Hungerford Hospital, 272 Conn. 776, 786, 865 A.2d 1163 (2005); Petyan v. Ellis, 200 Conn. 243, 246, 510 A.2d 1337 (1986). "[T]he possibility of incurring the costs and inconvenience associated with defending a [retaliatory] suit might well deter a citizen with a legitimate grievance from filing a complaint." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Craig v. Stafford Construction, Inc., 271 Conn. 78, 95, 856 A.2d 372 (2004). "Put simply, absolute immunity furthers the public policy of encouraging participation and candor in judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings. This objective would be thwarted if those persons whom the common-law doctrine was intended to protect nevertheless faced the threat of suit. In this regard, the purpose of the absolute immunity afforded participants in judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings is the same as the purpose of the sovereign immunity enjoyed by the state." Chadha v. Hungerford Hospital, supra, at 787, 865 A.2d 1163. As a result, courts have recognized absolute immunity as a defense in certain retaliatory civil actions in order to remove this disincentive and thus encourage citizens to come forward with complaints or to testify. The question before us is whether claims based on vexatious litigation and intentional interference with contractual or beneficial relations fall under this rule.

We consistently have held that absolute immunity bars defamation claims that arise from statements made in the course of judicial or quasi-judicial hearings. In Craig v. Stafford Construction, Inc., supra, 271 Conn. at 80, 856 A.2d 372, we concluded that an investigation by the city of Hartford police department's internal affairs division constituted a quasi-judicial proceeding, thereby affording absolute immunity to the citizen complainant whose claim had given rise to the investigation.⁴ The plaintiff in Craig, a police officer with the department, brought a defamation action against the defendants claiming that they had defamed him when they filed a citizen complaint with the police department alleging that he had directed racial slurs toward them at a construction site. Id., at 81, 856 A.2d 372. We concluded that the internal affairs investigation constituted a quasi-judicial proceeding and therefore that the allegedly defamatory statements were entitled to absolute immunity, even if those statements had been made falsely and maliciously. Id., at 84, 88, 856 A.2d 372.

In so holding, we applied the general principles underlying the doctrine of absolute immunity to the particular context of an internal affairs investigation. Although we recognized the debilitating effect that a false allegation of racial discrimination can have on a police officer; id., at 95-96, 856 A.2d 372; the policy concerns underlying absolute immunity—encouraging complaining and testimonial witnesses to come forward—outweighed the interest of the private individual in being free from defamation. We stated that "the policy of encouraging citizen complaints against those people who...