Hammer v. Posta, 155 A.3d 801

On May 19, 2012 plaintiff Edward Hammer was walking his leashed miniature schnauzer when defendants’ pit bull attacked the dog; plaintiff sustained thumb and back injuries while protecting his dog.
Plaintiff incurred veterinary bills ($643) and medical expenses ($3,637.45) and lost wages; sued defendants under Conn. Gen. Stat. § 22-357 for damages on Oct. 18, 2012.
Plaintiff initially claimed a jury trial but withdrew the jury claim on Oct. 6, 2014 and later filed for a court trial; defendants never filed a written jury claim within the statutory time windows.
On the day of trial (Feb. 19, 2015) Leticia Posta was defaulted for failure to appear; Dominic Posta was represented by counsel who had appeared the day before.
At bench trial the court admitted medical records and other exhibits but stated it had not read them in full and relied on testimony and counsel’s recital; court found injuries permanent, awarded $30,080.45 plus costs, and denied defendants’ postjudgment motions.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether defendants were denied their state constitutional right to jury trial	Hammer argued jury claim was properly withdrawn and court trial was permissible	Posta argued he did not agree to withdrawal, was pro se when withdrawn, and an oral same-day request for a jury should have been granted	Denied: defendants forfeited/waived jury right by failing to timely file a written jury claim; oral request at trial was untimely and not compelled by statute
Whether the court impermissibly relied on counsel argument instead of evidence when finding injuries permanent and awarding damages	Hammer relied on trial testimony, exhibits admitted, and court’s opportunity to assess credibility	Posta argued court admitted but did not read medical records and thus improperly based permanency finding on counsel argument/plaintiff testimony alone	Denied: although court’s remark was inartful, it had sufficient testimony and portions of reports read into record; permanency may be inferred from testimony without expert proof; no reversible error

State v. Golding, 213 Conn. 233 (establishes four-part test for unpreserved constitutional claims)
Falk v. Schuster, 171 Conn. 5 (court may enter jury docket by order or consent after statutory windows)
L & R Realty v. Connecticut Nat’l Bank, 246 Conn. 1 (discussion of waiver/forfeiture of jury rights)
Delahunty v. Targonski, 158 Conn. App. 741 (failure to timely claim jury constitutes forfeiture)
Moye v. Commissioner of Correction, 168 Conn. App. 207 (trial court need not read every exhibit but should explain what was not reviewed)
Scandariato v. Borrelli, 153 Conn. App. 819 (permanency of injury may be found by trier without expert testimony)
Parker v. Supermarkets General Corp., 36 Conn. App. 647 (trier can infer permanency without medical testimony)
Royston v. Factor, 1 Conn. App. 576 (permanency inferred where disability persists two years)