Wochek v. Foley
Decision Date | 03 July 1984 |
Docket Number | No. 11135,11135 |
Citation | 477 A.2d 1015,193 Conn. 582 |
Court | Connecticut Supreme Court |
Parties | Josephine WOCHEK v. Carl FOLEY et al. |
Joseph Rubin, Hartford, with whom, on the brief, was Martha Stone, Hartford, for appellant (plaintiff).
Paul E. Pollock, Bridgeport, for appellee (named defendant).
Before SPEZIALE, C.J., and PETERS, HEALEY, SHEA and SPONZO, JJ.
After a jury trial, the plaintiff, Josephine Wochek, was awarded $25,000 damages against the named defendant, Carl Foley, for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, and the verdict was accepted and ordered recorded by the trial court. The plaintiff has appealed from a subsequent order of the trial court setting aside the jury verdict and ordering a new trial unless the plaintiff filed a remittitur in the amount of $20,000. The plaintiff claims that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering "either the acceptance by plaintiff of a remittitur in the amount of $20,000.00 or a new trial." We agree with the plaintiff and find error.
The plaintiff brought this action against two Danbury police officers 1 alleging, inter alia, false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The jury reasonably could have found the following facts: On August 24, 1974, the Danbury police were summoned to the plaintiff's home. The plaintiff's sister told the responding officer, the named defendant, Carl Foley (hereinafter the defendant), that there was a family dispute concerning a dead cat that the plaintiff insisted on keeping inside the house and that their mother was very upset about the situation.
The plaintiff allowed the defendant and another officer, who arrived to assist the defendant, into the house because she was afraid that the defendant was going to break in. After examining the dead cat, the defendant told the plaintiff that she was being taken to the police station. The plaintiff got into the police cruiser after the defendant threatened to use force if she failed to comply. In the police cruiser, she stated that she was being taken against her will. At the police station the defendant gave her a piece of paper that he told her contained her court date but refused to tell her the charges or to allow her to call an attorney. The defendant then informed her that she was being taken to Danbury Hospital and the plaintiff protested, explaining that she was "terrified of Hospitals." She got back into the police cruiser only after the defendant threatened to drag her.
At the Danbury Hospital, she entered only because of the defendant's threats, and the defendant again refused to allow her to make a phone call. The plaintiff insisted on leaving the hospital and to prevent her from doing so the defendant arrested her on a charge of disorderly conduct. He still would not allow her to call an attorney. After an examination by a doctor at Danbury Hospital, the plaintiff was taken, protesting, to Fairfield Hills, a state mental hospital. She was committed to Fairfield Hills Hospital and kept there for forty-five days.
The defendant testified that he arrested the plaintiff to prevent her from leaving Danbury Hospital before being examined by a doctor. The criminal charge of disorderly conduct was disposed of by the entry of a nolle prosequi on October 18, 1974.
The trial court instructed the jury on the issues of false imprisonment and malicious prosecution. The jury returned a verdict finding "the issues for the Plaintiff as against the Defendant Carl Foley and therefore finds for the Plaintiff to recover of the Defendant Carl Foley $25,000 damages."
Before the verdict was accepted by the trial court, the defendant, pursuant to Practice Book § 311, moved to return the jury for reconsideration on the grounds that the jury had mistaken the evidence in the action or had brought in a verdict contrary to the direction of the trial court in a matter of law. The trial court denied the motion stating "I can't say as a matter of law that they made a mistake in the evidence or misconstrued my directions." The verdict was then accepted and ordered recorded by the trial court.
The defendant subsequently made a motion to set aside the verdict and a motion for remittitur. The trial court set aside the verdict as being excessive and ordered a new trial unless the plaintiff filed a remittitur in the amount of $20,000. In its memorandum of decision on the defendant's motions to set aside the verdict and for remittitur, the trial court stated that the jury could have found that the plaintiff was "persuaded" to accompany the officers to the police station and then to Danbury Hospital. The trial court also noted that although the jury could have found no probable cause for the plaintiff's arrest, "[o]fficer Foley's actions could not be found to be malicious in the true sense of the word." In concluding that the jury award was excessive the trial court stated
The plaintiff has appealed from the judgment of remittitur, contending that the trial court abused its discretion. We agree.
Slabinski v. Dix, 138 Conn. 625, 628-29, 88 A.2d 115 (1952); see Herb v. Kerr, 190 Conn. 136, 459 A.2d 521 (1983); Seals v. Hickey, 186 Conn. 337, 441 A.2d 604 (1982); Birgel v. Heintz, 163 Conn. 23, 301 A.2d 249 (1972).
The evidence offered at trial must be reviewed in the light most favorable to sustaining the verdict. Herb v. Kerr, supra, 190 Conn. at 140, 459 A.2d 521; Gorczyca v. New York, N.H. & H.R. Co., 141 Conn. 701, 703-704, 109 A.2d 589 (1954). This the trial court failed to do when it ordered the remittitur. ...
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