Schroeder v. TRAIANGULUM ASSOCIATES

• Decision Date: 05 February 2002
• Docket Number: (SC 16283),(SC 16284)
• Citation: 789 A.2d 459,259 Conn. 325
• Court: Connecticut Supreme Court
• Parties: PAUL SCHROEDER ET AL. v. TRIANGULUM ASSOCIATES ET AL.

259 Conn. 325

789 A.2d 459

PAUL SCHROEDER ET AL. v. TRIANGULUM ASSOCIATES ET AL.

(SC 16283), (SC 16284)

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued September 10, 2001.

Officially released February 5, 2002.

Borden, Katz, Palmer, Vertefeuille and Zarella, JS.

Eliot D. Prescott, assistant attorney general, with whom were Yinxia Long, assistant attorney general, and, on the brief, Richard Blumenthal, attorney general, Carolyn K. Querijero, deputy attorney general, and Gregory T. D'Auria, assistant attorney general, for the appellant (intervening plaintiff second injury fund).

James Wu, for the appellant-appellee (named plaintiff).

Philip O'Connor, with whom were Brian M. Gildea and, on the brief, Patty G. Swan, for the appellees-appellant (named defendant et al. and defendant DeZinno and Associates, Inc.).

Michael Brodinsky, for the appellee (intervening plaintiff Airborne Freight Corporation).

Opinion

VERTEFEUILLE, J.

The dispositive issue in this consolidated appeal is whether the trial court improperly refused to set aside the jury's verdict, which awarded an injured employee substantially all of the economic damages that he sought, but zero noneconomic damages. We conclude that the verdict was inadequate as a matter of law, and, accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and order a new trial. We also will address two additional issues that are likely to arise again in the new trial, namely, whether social security disability benefits are a collateral source under General Statutes § 52-225b, and whether the second injury fund (fund) is entitled to reimbursement for a lump sum settlement it paid pursuant to a voluntary workers' compensation agreement authorized by General Statutes § 31-296. We conclude that social security disability benefits are not a collateral source, and that the fund is entitled to reimbursement for the settlement.

The named plaintiff, Paul Schroeder (plaintiff),¹ brought the negligence action underlying this consolidated appeal against Triangulum Associates, F.M. Heritage Company, Henry J. Paparazzo, Robert E. DeZinno and DeZinno and Associates, Inc. The plaintiffs employer, Airborne Freight Corporation (Airborne), and the fund, both of which had paid workers' compensation benefits to the plaintiff, were permitted to intervene in the action to seek reimbursement for workers' compensation benefits they had paid. The jury returned a plaintiffs verdict against DeZinno and Associates, Inc., only, finding in favor of the remaining defendants.² The plaintiff and the fund filed separate appeals from the judgment of the trial court, and the defendant filed a cross appeal in the plaintiffs appeal. After the appeals were consolidated, we transferred them to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (c) and Practice Book § 65-2.

The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. On September 15, 1992, the plaintiff was employed by Airborne as a courier. While making a delivery to the Country Tavern restaurant in Southbury, the plaintiff was injured when he struck his head on a door frame that was approximately one foot lower than the other door frames in the restaurant. The Country Tavern restaurant was owned and operated by the defendant.

After paying the plaintiff certain workers' compensation benefits, Airborne transferred its liability for any further compensation related to the plaintiffs injury to the fund. The plaintiff and the fund subsequently entered into a stipulated agreement (agreement) and award that settled all claims between the plaintiff and the fund with regard to the plaintiffs injury. Pursuant to this agreement, the fund paid the plaintiff a lump sum settlement of $200,000. A workers' compensation commissioner approved the agreement and award.

The plaintiff subsequently filed the present action, claiming that his injuries were caused by the defendant's negligent maintenance of the restaurant premises and its failure to warn of the danger presented by the low door frame. The defendant responded by filing a special defense alleging that the plaintiffs injuries were caused by his own negligence in failing to exercise ordinary care when entering the area with the low door frame.

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for economic damages in the amount of $750,400, but no noneconomic damages. The jury also found that the plaintiff was 49 percent negligent in causing his injuries and the verdict was reduced accordingly. Following trial, the plaintiff and the defendant both moved to set aside the verdict and the defendant moved for a collateral source hearing. The trial court granted the defendant's motion for a collateral source hearing and further reduced the plaintiffs verdict by the amount of social security disability benefits that he had received prior to trial. The trial court thereafter denied both motions to set aside the verdict, and these appeals followed. Further facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

The plaintiff first claims that the trial court improperly refused to grant his motion to set aside the verdict and for a new trial as to damages. The plaintiff contends that the jury's verdict is inadequate as a matter of law because it awarded substantially all the economic damages that the plaintiff sought, but zero noneconomic damages. We agree that under the circumstances of this case, the trial court should have set aside the verdict and ordered a new trial.

We begin by setting forth the trial court's role in passing upon a motion to set aside the verdict. "In passing upon a motion to set aside a verdict, the trial judge must do just what every juror ought to do in arriving at a verdict. The juror must use all his experience, his knowledge of human nature, his knowledge of human events, past and present, his knowledge of the motives which influence and control human action, and test the evidence in the case according to such knowledge and render his verdict accordingly.... The trial judge in considering the verdict must do the same ... and if, in the exercise of all his knowledge from this source, he finds the verdict to be so clearly against the weight of the evidence in the case as to indicate that the jury did not correctly apply the law to the facts in evidence in the case, or were governed by ignorance, prejudice, corruption or partiality, then it is his duty to set aside that verdict and to grant a new trial.... The trial judge has a broad legal discretion and his action will not be disturbed unless there is a clear abuse." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Birgel v. Heintz, 163 Conn. 23, 27, 301 A.2d 249 (1972).

We recently established a case-specific standard for reviewing a jury's verdict to determine whether it is inconsistent and therefore legally inadequate. In Wickers v. Hatch, 252 Conn. 174, 188, 745 A.2d 789 (2000), we held that trial courts, when confronted with jury verdicts awarding economic damages and zero noneconomic damages, must determine on a case-by-case basis whether a verdict is adequate as a matter of law. Wickers resolved some inconsistency in our prior cases addressing how a trial court should handle a jury verdict awarding the plaintiff economic damages but no noneconomic damages.

Under Wickers, "the jury's decision to award economic damages and zero noneconomic damages is best tested in light of the circumstances of the particular case before it. Accordingly, the trial court should examine the evidence to decide whether the jury reasonably could have found that the plaintiff had failed in his proof of the issue." Id., 188-89. Our review of the trial court's decision is limited to whether the trial court properly exercised its discretion. Id., 181. Although the scope of our review is narrow, we nevertheless conclude that the trial court in the present case abused its discretion when it refused to set aside the verdict.

The following additional facts are necessary to our resolution of this issue. At trial, the plaintiff presented evidence regarding the nature of his injuries and the medical treatment necessary to treat those injuries. The plaintiffs physician testified that the plaintiff underwent a surgical procedure to fuse a portion of his spine. This procedure involves the removal of two spinal discs, followed by the removal of bone from the spinal column. The removed bone is then forced into the empty space in the spinal column, where over time it fuses with the surrounding bone and becomes part of the spinal column. The physician further testified that the plaintiff suffered a 30 percent permanent partial disability as a result of this significant injury.³

The defendant disputed the permanency of the plaintiffs injuries at trial. The defendant also presented evidence that, prior to being injured at the Country Tavern restaurant, the plaintiff had been injured when a firecracker exploded near his ear, and that subsequent to his injury at the restaurant, the plaintiff had been involved in an automobile accident and had fallen into a sinkhole. The defendant claimed that these incidents were at least partially responsible for the plaintiffs injuries.

The plaintiff argues that, given the nature of his injuries and especially the substantial invasiveness of the spinal fusion surgery, a jury reasonably could not award substantially all of the plaintiffs economic damages, including the medical expenses related to the spinal fusion, but zero noneconomic damages. General Statutes § 52-572h (a), which sets forth the relevant definitions of economic and noneconomic damages, provides in relevant part: "(1) `Economic damages' means cornpensation determined by the trier of fact for pecuniary losses including, but not limited to, the cost of reasonable and necessary medical care, rehabilitative services, custodial care and loss of earnings or earning capacity excluding any noneconomic damages; (2) `noneconomic damages' means compensation determined by the trier of...