MARIE FAIN v. BETHANY BENAK ET AL.
AC 43898
Appellate Court of Connecticut
July 13, 2021
Alvord, Cradle and Eveleigh, Js.
Argued March 10
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Syllabus
The plaintiff sought to recover damages for personal injuries that she sustained when her vehicle was struck by a vehicle driven by the defendant B, an employee of the defendant Department of Administrative Services. The plaintiff alleged that her injuries were the result of B‘s negligence. Following a trial to the court, the court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff and awarded damages. The plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration as to her claimed future medical expenses, and attached to that motion a letter from her treating physician, G, which had been admitted as a full exhibit at trial. The letter stated that it was more probable than not that the plaintiff would require future medical treatment. The court granted the plaintiff‘s motion, awarded additional damages, and the defendant Department of Administrative Services appealed to this court. Held:
- The defendant Department of Administrative Services could not prevail on its claim that the trial court erred in declining to apply the unavoidable accident doctrine, which was based on its claim that B was not negligent because she experienced a sudden emergency caused by the blowout of her left front tire: beсause the court found that B was negligent and caused the collision with the plaintiff‘s vehicle, the accident could not be considered unavoidable as a matter of law; the court determined that B was negligent in the way in which she operated the vehicle and that her actions were the proximate cause of the plaintiff‘s injuries, and, because these findings were inapposite to a determination that the record could support a finding that the negligence of neither party was involved, the court correctly determined that its finding of negligence necessarily precluded a finding that the accident was unavoidable.
- The trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the plaintiff‘s motion for reconsideration after it determined that she had presented sufficient evidence to support an award of damages for future medical expenses: G‘s letter and certain additional evidence presented at trial supported a conclusion that the plaintiff would incur future medical expenses and also provided evidence as to the specific costs of those expenses; this evidence took the plaintiff‘s claimed future medical expenses out of the realm of speculation, provided a degree of medical certainty that she would need future care, and presented sufficient evidence from which the court could approximate the costs of future medical treatment.
Argued March 10-officially released July 13, 2021
Procedural History
Action to recover damages for personal injuries the plaintiff sustained as a result of the named defendant‘s alleged negligence, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New London, where the action was withdrawn as to the named defendant; thereafter, the case was tried to the court, Knox, J.; judgment for the plaintiff, from which the defendant Department of Administrative Services appealed to this court; subsequently, the court, Knox, J., granted the plaintiff‘s motion for reconsideration and awarded the plaintiff additional damages, and the defendant Department of Administrative Services amended its appeal; thereafter, the court, Knox, J., denied the motion for reconsideration and to set aside the judgment filed by the defendant Department of Administrative Services, and the defendant Department of Administrative Services amended its appeal. Affirmed.
Charles K. Norris, with whom, on the brief, was Anthony D. Sutton, for the appellee (plaintiff).
Opinion
ALVORD, J. The defendant Department of Administrative Services1 appeals from the judgment of the trial court rendered in favor of the plaintiff, Marie Fain, in this negligence action following a trial to the court. On appeal, the defendant claims that the court erred in (1) declining to apply the “unavoidable accident doctrine” to the facts of the case and (2) granting the plaintiff‘s motion for reconsideration after it determined that she presented sufficient evidence to support an award of damages for future medical expenses. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The following facts, as found by the court in its memorandum of decision, and procedural history are relevant to our discussion of the claims on appeal. On the morning of June 5, 2017, the plaintiff was driving south on Flanders Road in East Lyme. Thе plaintiff was traveling at the posted speed limit of thirty-five miles per hour. The plaintiff drove this route daily during her commute to her job as a school teacher. That morning, a vehicle operated by the defendant‘s employee, Bethany Benak, struck the plaintiff‘s vehicle.2 The collision happened suddenly and without warning; the two vehicles were heading in opposite directions and were in their respective lanes when Benak‘s vehicle crossed into the plaintiff‘s lane, the southbound lane, and struck the plaintiff‘s vehicle. On impact, the plaintiff‘s vehicle spun and entered the northbound lane, where it collided with another vehicle. Finally, the plaintiff‘s vehicle came to a stop at a stone wall. On the basis of the plaintiff‘s testimony, which the court found was credible, the court determined that during the course of the accident, Benak‘s vehicle crossed the center line and did not slow down.
Just prior to the accident, Benak heard a popping sound, and the vehicle she was operating pulled to the left, toward the southbound lane of traffic.3 At trial, the police officer who responded to the scene testified that Benak‘s front left tire appeared to have blown out, and the court found that there was a tear in the tire. At the time the tire burst, Benak did not know the speed at which she was traveling, whether she had applied her vehicle‘s brakes, or how far she was from the plaintiff‘s vehicle.
After the accident, an ambulance transported the plaintiff to the emergency department of a hospital. The plaintiff sustained a fractured hip, a bruised kidney, and a fractured arm as a result of the
On August 15, 2018, the plaintiff commenced the present action. In the plaintiff‘s operative complaint, filed on December 2, 2019, she alleged that Benak was negligent and claimed that the defendant was liable for the plaintiff‘s damages pursuant to
In its memorandum of decision, the сourt found that it was reasonably probable that the plaintiff would require future surgery and physical therapy; however, the court also found that there was “insufficient evidence upon which to determine future medical expenses.” On January 23, 2020, the plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration as to her claimed future medical expenses and attached a letter from her treating physician, Daniel Gaccione, which was admitted into evidence as a full exhibit during trial. The defendant objected to the plaintiff‘s motion for reconsideration. While the motion was pending, the defendant filed this appeal. On February 11, 2020, the trial court granted the plaintiff‘s motion for reconsideration and awarded the plaintiff an additional $14,250 in damages for future medical expenses.6
On February 3, 2020, while the plaintiff‘s motion for reconsideration remained pending, the defendant filed a motion for reconsideration, reargument and to set aside the judgment in favor of the plaintiff. On February 17, 2020, the court denied the defendant‘s motion. The defendant thereafter amended its appeal. Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.
I
The defendant first claims that the trial court erred in refusing to apply the “unavoidable
Before we address the substance of the defendant‘s first claim, we set forth the appropriate standard of review. The defendant maintains that whether a court should apply the “unavoidable accident doctrine” is a question of law subject to plenary review. The plaintiff, on the other hand, maintains that our review is guided by the abuse of discretion standard.
“The scope of our apрellate review depends upon the proper characterization of the rulings made by the trial court. To the extent that the trial court has made findings of fact, our review is limited to deciding whether such findings were clearly erroneous. When, however, the trial court draws conclusions of law, our review is plenary and we must decide whether its conclusions are legally and logically correct and find support in the facts as they appear in the record.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) DeLeo v. Equale & Cirone, LLP, 202 Conn. App. 650, 659, 246 A.3d 988, cert. denied, 336 Conn. 927, 247 A.3d 577 (2021).7
In its memorandum of decision, the court set forth its determination with respect to the applicability of the “unavoidable accident dоctrine” as follows: “In Shea v. Tousignant, [172 Conn. 54, 372 A.2d 151] (1976), the court held that liability cannot be imposed on the operator of a vehicle who has a sudden medical emergency resulting in the loss of control of the vehicle. See also Smith v. Czescel, [12 Conn. App. 558, 533 A.2d 223, cert. denied, 206 Conn. 803, 535 A.2d 1316] (1987). The court rejects the application of the ‘unavoidable accident’ doctrine for the following reasons. First, there is no claim that Benak experienced a sudden medical emergency which prevented her . . . [from] maintain[ing] control of the vehicle. This court will not by analogy extend the doctrine to a mechanical issue with the vehicle. Second, and more significantly, the court finds that the plaintiff has sustained her burden of proof that the driver of the state vehicle negligently operated her vehicle and caused the collision with the plaintiff‘s vehicle in one or more of the ways set forth in the operative complaint.”
The defendant does not argue clear error with respect to the court‘s factual finding that there was no claim that Benak experienced a sudden medical emergency that prevented her from controlling her vehicle or its factual finding that Benak negligently operated her vehicle. Rather, the defendant claims only that the court erred in declining to apply the concept of unаvoidable accident to these facts. Our resolution of this issue depends on whether the court properly declined to apply the “unavoidable accident doctrine” to the facts of this case. Therefore, our standard of review is plenary.
Having established the standard of review, we turn to the defendant‘s claim that the court erred in refusing to apply the “unavoidable accident doctrine.” The plaintiff responds that the “court‘s decision to not apply the unavoidable accident doctrine
The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of this claim. In the trial court‘s memorandum of decision, the court expressly credited the plaintiff‘s testimony that “the state vehicle when it was approaching the plaintiff‘s vehicle crossed the center line and failed to slow down.” The court found that “the plaintiff [had] sustained her burden of proof that the driver of the state vehicle negligently operated her vehicle and caused the collision with the plaintiff‘s vehicle in one or more of the ways set forth in the operative complaint.” Further, the court determined that Benak‘s negligence was the proximate cause of the plaintiff‘s damages.
In her operative complaint, the plaintiff alleged that Benak was negligent in a number of ways. The allegations relate to Benak‘s actions after her tire blew out, with the exception of the allegation that she failed to adhere to the speed limit in the time leading up to the accident.8 Failing to remain in her lane, failing to brake, and general inattentiveness while driving are among the allegations.9
On the basis of these theories of liability and the evidence presented at trial, the court determined that the plaintiff proved that Benak “negligently operated her vehicle and caused the collision with the plaintiff‘s vehicle . . . .” On the basis of the court‘s conclusion that the plaintiff proved that Benak negligently operated her vehicle, the court “[rejected] the application of the ‘unavoidable accident’ doctrine” to the facts of the case. The court elucidated that there was “no claim that Benak experienced a sudden medical emergency which prevented her [from] maintain[ing] control of the vehicle,” and it declined to extend “by analogy . . . the doctrine to a mechanical issue with the vehicle.”
The defendant does not challenge on appeal the trial court‘s findings aside from its claim that the “unavoidable accident doctrine” precludes a finding of negligence and its related claim that, in order to prevail at trial, the plaintiff needed to prove that Benak knew of the impending blowout or negligently caused it to occur.10 Ultimately, because the court found that Benak was negligent, the accident cannot be considered unavoidable or inevitable as a matter of law.
In support of its claim, the defendant relies on Professors Prosser and Keeton‘s definition of “unavoidable accident,” which provides that “[a]n unavoidable accident is an occurrence which is not intended and which, under all the circumstances, could not have been foreseen or prevented by the exercise of reasonable precautions. That is, an accident is considered unavoidable or inevitable at law if it was not proximately caused by the negligence of any party to the action, or to the acсident. . . . [T]he driver of an automobile who suddenly loses control of the car because the driver is seized with a heart attack, a stroke, a fainting spell, or an epileptic fit is not liable, unless the driver knew that he might become ill, in which case he may have been negligent in driving the car at all.” (Footnotes omitted.) W. Keeton et al., Prosser and Keeton on the Law of Torts (5th Ed. 1984) § 29, p. 162.
In Connecticut, this concept has been incorporated into a model jury instruction, which provides: “The defendant claims that any injury suffered by the plaintiff was the result of an unusual or unexpected event and was not the result of either party‘s negligence. If you find thаt the alleged injuries and/or losses in question did not result from either the defendant‘s or the plaintiff‘s negligence but were caused solely by some other happening, then the defendant is not liable to the plaintiff.” Connecticut Civil Jury Instructions 3.6-16, available at https://www.jud.ct.gov/JI/Civil/Civil.pdf (last visited July 7, 2021). Our Supreme Court has condoned this instruction only in the context of a driver losing consciousness while operating a motor vehicle. See Shea v. Tousignant, supra, 172 Conn. 58 (directing trial court to provide instruction on remand in case in which defendant passed out or fell asleep without warning). Additionally, on more than one occasion, the court has expressed disapproval of the charge. See, e.g., Tomczuk v. Alvarez, 184 Conn. 182, 190-91, 439 A.2d 935 (1981); see also W. Keeton et al., supra, § 29, p. 163 (noting that instructions on doctrine have fallen into disfavor in many states).
The concept of unavoidable accident does not excuse a defendant from liability. Rather, it contextualizes the question of whether an actor has been negligent.
In the present case, the court, acting as the fact finder, determined that Benak was negligent in the way in which she operated her vehicle, noting issues with her speed and braking, and that her actions were the proximate cause of the plaintiff‘s injuries. Because these findings are inapposite to a determination that “the record can support a finding that the negligence of neither party is involved“; (internal quotation marks omitted) Barrese v. DeFillippo, supra, 45 Conn. App. 108; the court correctly determined that its finding of negligence necessarily precluded a finding that the accident was unavoidable.11
II
The defendant‘s second claim is that the court erred in granting the plaintiff‘s motion for reconsideration and in increasing the award of damages to include future medical expenses. We disagree.
The question of whether to grant a motion for reconsideration “is within the sound discretion of the court.” Shore v. Haverson Architecture & Design, P.C., 92 Conn. App. 469, 479, 886 A.2d 837 (2005), cert. denied, 277 Conn. 907, 894 A.2d 988 (2006). “The standard of review regarding challenges to a court‘s ruling on a motion for reconsideration is abuse of discretion. As with any discretionary action of the trial court . . . the ultimate [question for appellate review] is whether the trial court could have reasonаbly concluded as it did.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.
The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of this claim. As discussed previously, the court, in its memorandum of decision, determined that there was insufficient evidence on which to determine future medical expenses. In support of her motion for reconsideration, the plaintiff attached a letter from her physician, which was admitted as a full exhibit during the trial. Gaccione stated in his letter: “With [regard] to further treatment, there is a better than 50 [percent] chance that it may be necessary to remove [the plaintiff‘s] left forearm hardware in the future. In addition, she may rеquire physical therapy treatment for up to [ten] visits on an annual basis for the next several years while
On appeal, the defendant argues that because the letter from Gaccione “does not provide the court . . . with sufficiеnt evidence to make a reasonable estimate of the cost of such treatment . . . [and] does not provide the court with sufficient evidence upon which to calculate how much physical therapy is going to be necessary and for how long . . . the award of . . . future medical expenses is not supported by the evidence . . . .” We disagree.
“Damages for the future consequences of an injury can never be forecast with certainty.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Marchetti v. Ramirez, 240 Conn. 49, 56, 688 A.2d 1325 (1997). Accordingly, an award of future medical expenses should be “based upon an estimate of reasonable probabilities, not possibilities. . . . The obvious рurpose of this requirement is to prevent the [fact finder] from awarding damages for future medical expenses based merely on speculation or conjecture. Because, however, [f]uture medical expenses do not require the same degree of certainty as past medical expenses . . . [i]t is not speculation or conjecture to calculate future medical expenses based upon the history of medical expenses that have accrued as of the trial date . . . when there is also a degree of medical certainty that future medical expenses will be necessary.” (Citations omittеd; emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 54-55.
In Marchetti, the plaintiff‘s treating physician “expressed the opinion that the plaintiff [would] require future medical treatment for his injuries.” Id., 55. Although the physician could not estimate the costs of that future treatment, our Supreme Court determined that the jury reasonably could have awarded the plaintiff damages for future medical expenses because “the evidence established that the plaintiff had received medical treatment for his injuries on a regular basis since the date of the accident,” and because the plaintiff established life expectancy and total costs of treatment as of the date of trial. Id., 56.
In the present case, Gaccione‘s letter and the additional evidence presented at trial support a conclusion that the plaintiff would incur future medical expenses and also provided evidence as to the costs of her future medical expenses. Specifically, the plaintiff submitted evidence of the treatment she likely would need in the future (follow-up arm surgery and physical therapy), the costs of such treatment (between $6000 and $8000 for the arm surgery and between $100 and $150 per physical therapy appointment), the approximate
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
ALVORD, J.