11 Conn. App. 662 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1987
The plaintiff is appealing from the judgment rendered after the trial court granted the defendant’s motion for nonsuit. The plaintiff claims that the trial court erred (1) in its ruling that a judgment of non-suit should be rendered against the plaintiff, (2) in overruling an order of another trial court, and (3) in failing to grant the plaintiff’s motion to open the nonsuit. We find no error.
The plaintiff brought suit in 1984 for injuries sustained as a result of a 1982 motor vehicle accident allegedly caused by the defendant. On April 12, 1985, the defendant filed interrogatories and requests for
As of March, 1986, the plaintiff had not fully complied with the defendant’s discovery motion, prompting the defendant to file another motion for nonsuit. This motion was claimed to the short calendar numerous times and it was ultimately granted by the trial court, Fracasse, J., on July 1, 1986. The plaintiff’s motion to open the judgment of nonsuit was later denied.
The plaintiff first claims that the trial court erred in granting the defendant’s motion for nonsuit. The record reveals, however, that the court followed the appropriate Practice Book provision, Practice Book § 231. This section provides, in pertinent part, that “[i]f any party has failed to answer interrogatories or to answer them fairly ... or has failed to respond to requests for production . . . the court may, on motion, make such order as the ends of justice require. Such orders may include the following: (a) the entry of a nonsuit or default against the party failing to comply . . . .” Our review of the record fails to reveal that the trial court abused its discretion in granting the motion.
Next, the plaintiff contends that the trial court erred by rendering a judgment of nonsuit when an earlier order of the court, Reynolds, J., had required the defendant to meet with the plaintiff to discuss the incomplete interrogatories and to then file an affidavit documenting the conference. Even if we assume that Judge Fracasse’s order overrode an earlier ruling of Judge Reynolds,
Finally, the plaintiff contends that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to open the nonsuit. “A trial court’s denial of a timely motion to open a judgment [of nonsuit] will not be disturbed on appeal unless
There is no error.
The defendant claims that he was never notified of any ruling by Judge Reynolds and questions whether one was made. The record reveals, how
We do not intend to depart from the principle that “[a] judge should hesitate to change his own rulings in a case and should be even more reluctant to overrule those of another judge. . . . Judge shopping is not to be encouraged and a decent respect for the views of his brethren on the bench is commendable in a judge.” (Citation omitted.) Breen v. Phelps, 186 Conn. 86, 99-100, 439 A.2d 1066 (1982). In may be possible for a judge to abuse this broad power to reconsider issues once decided, but the plaintiff has failed to show that such is the case here.