2 Conn. App. 523 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1984
This is an action for damages resulting from injuries sustained by the plaintiff in an automobile collision between his automobile and an automobile driven by the defendant. The intersection where the collision took place was governed by a traffic signal light which both opposing parties contended was green in their favor. After trial, the jury returned a general verdict for the defendant, but the trial court granted a motion to set it aside, from which action this appeal was taken.
There appears to have been no substantial dispute as to certain circumstances preliminary to the collision. The collision occurred at the intersection of Forbes and
The primary factual dispute was whether the traffic signal was green for the plaintiff or for the defendant at the time of the collision.
The court instructed the jury as to what constituted negligence and contributory negligence under the cir
The pivotal issue in this appeal is how far a trial court may go in setting aside the verdict of a jury as against the evidence. A trial court in passing upon a motion to set aside a verdict and this court in reviewing its action thereon are limited by established legal principles. Our rule is plain and unchanged, although it has been stated in a variety of ways. “If, on the evidence as presented and under the pleadings, the jury could have reasonably found in accordance with the verdict as rendered, then it cannot be set aside as against the evidence.” Goodman v. Norwalk Jewish Center, Inc., 145 Conn. 146, 154, 139 A.2d 812 (1958); see also Horvath v. Tontini, 126 Conn. 462, 464, 11 A.2d 846 (1940).
It is the duty of the trial court in its relation to the jury to protect the parties by setting aside a verdict where its manifest injustice is so plain as clearly to indi
One obvious and immovable limitation on the legal discretion of the court in setting aside a verdict is the constitutional right of trial by jury. To protect the right of a litigant to have disputed issues of fact determined by a jury, the court’s action cannot be reviewed in a vacuum. The evidence upon which the verdict was based must be examined. Id., 416-17. “Upon issues regarding which, on the evidence, there is room for reasonable difference of opinion among fairminded men, the conclusion of a jury, if one at which honest men acting fairly and intelligently might arrive reasonably, must stand, even though the opinion of the trial court and this court be that a different result should have been reached.” Horvath v. Tontini, supra. The question before this court is whether there was room for such a reasonable difference of opinion with respect to the issue of the defendant’s negligence. If so, the trial court erred in setting aside the verdict.
“Ordinarily a conclusion of negligence or of freedom from it is one of fact. The reason is that ‘the law itself furnishes no certain, specific, sufficient standard of conduct, and, of necessity, leaves the trier to determine, both what the conduct is, and whether it comes up to the standard, as such standard exists in the mind of
The trial court found that in a written and appropriately exhibited statement the defendant admitted that “he went through the red light.” The court, in its memorandum of decision accompanying the order setting aside the verdict of the jury, concluded that in none of his testimony did the defendant explain, deny or contradict the statement he made admitting that “he went through the red light” and that the jury could not have come to any conclusion other than that the defendant did in fact go through the red light. We disagree.
In this case the first question for the jury to decide was whether the traffic signal was green for the plaintiff or for the defendant. The issue of liability turned upon the resolution of this factual dispute. Although we may give due weight to the opinion of the trial court, the parties have the right to have the issues decided by the jury, if they are such issues as fairminded men might reasonably differ upon, and not by the court. Horvath v. Tontini, supra. Were it otherwise, the right to a jury trial in a civil case would be reduced to a mere sham.
The trial court accented the extrajudicial statement of the defendant “that he went through the red light” as the factor compelling the granting of the motion to set aside the verdict. The transcript, however, reveals that the defendant, in open court, denied that he did
The record discloses a substantial dispute as to the material facts attending the collision. Whether the defendant was negligent depended upon whether he exercised reasonable care under all the circumstances of the case. A careful study of the evidence in the case before us fails to satisfy us that the jury could not reasonably have believed the evidence given by the defendant and have held him free from negligence in entering the intersection under the circumstances disclosed by that evidence, especially since he was entitled to assume that the plaintiff would proceed with reasonable care as to speed, control, and lookout at an intersection. Accordingly, the trial court abused its discretion in setting aside the jury’s verdict.
There is error, the judgment is set aside and the case remanded with direction to render judgment for the defendant upon the verdict.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
This appeal, originally filed in the Supreme Court, was transferred to this court. Public Acts, Spec. Sess., June, 1983, No. 83-29, § 2 (c). Subsequent to the filing of this appeal, the defendant died. Pursuant to General Statutes § 52-599, Shirley Stoniek, his executrix, was substituted as a party on April 6, 1984.
The plaintiff alleged, inter alia, that the defendant failed to grant the right of way and that “he violated the laws of the State of Connecticut in that he failed to obey the vehicle traffic control signal, which commanded him to stop, in violation of Section 14-299 of the Connecticut General Statutes.” General Statutes § 14-299 (b) (3) provides in part that: “Vehicular traffic facing a steady red signal alone shall stop before entering the crosswalk on the near side of the intersection or, if none, then before entering the intersection and remain standing until the next indication is shown . . . .”
The interrogatories included the following: “Question 1: Did the plaintiff John Balboni prove the defendant William Stonick was negligent in one or more ways specified in the complaint? Answer: Yes—No. (If the answer to the above question is yes, go on to Answer 2; if the answer to the question is no, go no further and return a general verdict in favor of the defendant William Stonick).” The jury answered question 1 “No.”
On direct examination by the plaintiff’s counsel, the defendant testified as follows:
“Q: Now, Mr. Stoniek, isn’t it a fact, sir, that as you swung to the left to pass the truck that was making a righthand turn into the garage driveway, you looked at the light and you saw it had turned to red—
“A: No.
“Q:—and then you took your eye off it? Isn’t that a fact?
“A: No.
“Q: It’s not. Isn’t it a fact that as the light turned to red and you took your eye off it, you then proceeded through the intersection, Mr. Stoniek?
“A: No.”