5 Conn. App. 526 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1985
The defendants are appealing from the judgment of the court rendered after a jury verdict and after the court’s denial of the defendants’ post-trial motions to set aside the verdict and to render judgment pursuant to Practice Book § 321. The plaintiff has cross appealed.
The defendants claim as error (1) that the evidence presented at trial was insufficient to sustain the verdict for the plaintiff, (2) that the court’s charge to the jury and its recharge were deficient in their explanation of the scope of the duty owed by the defendants to the plaintiff, a licensee, and (3) that the court failed to set aside the verdict in the amount of $195,000 as excessive.
The plaintiff’s cross appeal claims error in the court’s failure to submit the question of whether the plaintiff was a business invitee or a licensee to the jury for determination and in the court’s failure to charge the jury that it was their function to determine whether the defendants had constructive notice of the plaintiff’s presence on the premises. At oral argument, counsel for the defendants declared that the defendants had abandoned their third claim that the verdict was excessive.
The evidence produced at the trial indicates that the jury reasonably could have found the following facts:
While about to exit from his patrol car to make his second or third check of the defendants’ premises that evening, the plaintiff heard the defendants’ burglar alarm sound. Anticipating the possibility of a burglary in process, the plaintiff called for a police backup, left his cruiser and proceeded to check the premises on foot. While doing so, the plaintiff slipped and fell, thereby injuring himself. The plaintiff continued his investigation of the premises and thereafter, along with the backup officer, discovered two ice-covered areas at the site he identified as the location of his fall. It was not raining at the time and there was no other ice on the premises. The area of the fall was unlighted. Security lights located on the building were not turned on. The plaintiff’s injuries were treated, but he was never able to return to regular duty on a consistent basis. Subsequently, the plaintiff was required to accept involuntary retirement. The plaintiff’s underlying suit claimed negligence on the part of the defendants. After a jury trial, the plaintiff was awarded a verdict in the amount of $195,000.
The substance of the defendants’ first claim of error attacks the verdict on the basis that there was insufficient evidence that the defendants had notice of the
The defendants’ final claim, that the motion to set aside the verdict should have been granted, is also without merit. In reviewing the court’s action on a motion to set aside the verdict, the dispositive question is whether or not the trial court clearly abused its dis
As we have already ruled that the record contains sufficient evidence to support the verdict, we see no error in the court’s refusal to grant the defendants’ motion for judgment pursuant to § 321 of the Practice Book.
Because the plaintiff prevailed in the trial court, we do not deem it necessary to expound further upon his claims of error.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.