The record, including our decision in Leonetti v. MacDermid, Inc. , supra,
"At the time that the [plaintiff] informed the [defendant] that he would be discharged from his employment, the [plaintiff] presented the [defendant] with a proposed ... agreement."
"Article III of the agreement provides that, in consideration 'for the agreements and covenants made herein, the release given, the actions taken or contemplated to be taken, or to be refrained from,' the [defendant] would be paid twenty-seven weeks 'severance pay, determined solely upon the [defendant's] current base salary,' which amounted to $70,228.51, within thirty days of the [plaintiff's] receipt of the properly executed agreement; the [defendant] would continue to earn paid time off through his final day of employment; the [defendant] would be able to continue to obtain medical and dental benefits for up to eighteen consecutive months from his last date of employment under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985;
"Article III of the agreement also provided that '[the defendant] understands that the payments and benefits
"Article IV of the agreement also required the [defendant] to enter into a one year noncompete agreement and also contained a clause stating in part that '[the defendant] acknowledges that he has been given a reasonable period of time of at least thirty ... days to review and consider this [a]greement before signing it. [The defendant] is encouraged to consult his or her attorney prior to signing this [a]greement.' " (Emphasis in original.) Leonetti v. MacDermid, Inc. , supra,
Article V (b) of the agreement, entitled "[i]nvalid [c]lauses," provides: "It is understood and agreed that if any terms or provisions of this [a]greement shall contravene or be invalid under the laws of the United States, such contravention or invalidity shall not invalidate the whole [a]greement, but it shall be construed and enforced as to most nearly give effect to the intentions of the parties as expressed herein as possible."
"The [defendant] did not want to release his preexisting workers' compensation claim relating to the 2004 injury by signing the agreement. He consulted with his attorney, who contacted the [plaintiff's] counsel and requested that the [plaintiff] remove from the agreement the language that could operate to release the [defendant's] workers' compensation claim. The [plaintiff] refused to modify the language of the agreement. The [defendant's] counsel wrote a letter to the [plaintiff's] counsel asserting that the release language of article
"On January 26, 2010, the [plaintiff] sent the [defendant] a letter stating that, unless the [defendant] signed the unmodified agreement within the next ten days, it would withdraw its offer of $70,228.51 in severance pay. The [defendant] signed the agreement on February 2, 2010, and the commissioner found that the [defendant] did so because he did not wish to forfeit his severance pay. After the [plaintiff] received the signed agreement from the [defendant], it paid the [defendant] the $70,228.51. At that time, the commissioner had not approved the agreement as a 'voluntary agreement' or stipulation as defined in § 31-296.
"A formal hearing was held several months later to determine the enforceability of the language in article II of the agreement that dealt with the release of the [defendant's] workers' compensation claim. Specifically, the parties asked the commissioner to determine as follows: (1) '[w]hether a signed termination agreement between [an] employer and [an] employee can effectively waive the parties' rights and obligations set forth in the [Workers' Compensation Act (act), General Statutes § 31-275 et seq., in the absence of] approval of the agreement by a [commissioner]'; and (2) '[i]f the ... agreement does not waive the parties' rights and obligations set forth in the [act]-whether the [c]ommissioner would issue an order that the ... agreement be entered as a full and final stipulation of the [defendant's] workers' compensation claim against the [plaintiff].'
"The commissioner first found that, without approval by a commissioner, the agreement did not effectively
On appeal, this court concluded that, under § 31-296, a contractual release of a workers' compensation claim is unenforceable until it has been approved by the commissioner.
On November 30, 2011, while the workers' compensation matter was still pending on appeal, the plaintiff commenced the present action against the defendant, asserting claims of civil theft, fraud, unjust enrichment, conversion, and seeking rescission of the agreement.
On February 26, 2016, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff on the
On appeal, the defendant contends that (1) the plaintiff's unjust enrichment claim is barred by collateral estoppel on the basis of the proceedings underlying this court's decision in
I
We first address the question of whether the plaintiff's unjust enrichment claim is barred by the doctrine of collateral estoppel.
In response, the plaintiff argues, inter alia, that the defendant's collateral estoppel claim is meritless because he fails to identify any element of the plaintiff's unjust enrichment claim that was actually litigated and previously decided.
We begin by setting forth the applicable standard of review. The defendant's claim requires us to determine whether the doctrine of collateral estoppel precludes
The fundamental principles underlying the doctrine of collateral estoppel are well established. "The common-law doctrine of collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, embodies a judicial policy in favor of judicial economy, the stability of former judgments and finality.... Collateral estoppel, or issue preclusion, is that aspect of res judicata which prohibits the relitigation of an issue when that issue was actually litigated and necessarily determined in a prior action between the same parties upon a different claim.... For an issue to be subject to collateral estoppel, it must have been fully and fairly litigated in the first action. It also must have been actually decided and the decision must have been necessary to the judgment....
"An issue is actually litigated if it is properly raised in the pleadings or otherwise, submitted for determination, and in fact determined.... An issue is necessarily determined if, in the absence of a determination of the issue, the judgment could not have been validly rendered.... If an issue has been determined, but the judgment is not dependent [on] the determination of the issue, the parties may relitigate the issue in a subsequent action." (Citations omitted; emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Lyon v. Jones ,
We conclude that there is not a sufficient identity of issues between the present case and Leonetti v. MacDermid, Inc. , supra,
The defendant, however, asserts that the plaintiff's claim of unjust enrichment is predicated on the defendant's "alleged[ly] deceptive conduct" and "[t]he only deceit that the [p]laintiff alleged was [the] [d]efendant's
II
We next turn to the defendant's claims that the plaintiff's recovery is barred by §§ 31-290 and 31-296, by the terms of the agreement, and by public policy and that, as such, the plaintiff cannot prevail on its unjust enrichment claim as a matter of law.
The record reveals the following additional facts and procedural history that are relevant to our resolution of these claims. On February 18, 2016, after the close
Whether the evidence presented by the plaintiff is sufficient to withstand a motion for a directed verdict is a question of law, over which our review is plenary. Curran v. Kroll ,
A motion for a directed verdict serves to "adequately [alert the opposing party] and the trial court to the
In the present case, the defendant's motion for directed verdict, as to the unjust enrichment claim, was based solely on the ground that the defendant "received no consideration in exchange for the [w]orkers' [c]ompensation release." Although the defendant's motion for a directed verdict referenced his supplemental request to charge forty-two, which in turn mentions the requirements of Connecticut law generally , there is no mention of § 31-290, § 31-296, article V (b) of the agreement, or public policy. Moreover, the defendant also made no mention whatsoever of article V (b) of the agreement in his postverdict motions. The defendant did, however, assert that the plaintiff's recovery "would violate the public policy embedded in [ §§ 31-290 and 31-296 ]" in his motion for judgment notwithstanding
III
We next address the defendant's challenges to the trial court's jury instructions. The record reveals the following additional relevant facts and procedural history.
On appeal, the defendant contends that the trial court improperly failed to instruct the jury in accordance with requests forty-four and thirty-six and that the court's unjust enrichment charge was not proper. Specifically, the defendant claims that, in refusing to charge the jury in accordance with request forty-four, the plaintiff was able to "pursue its claim of unjust enrichment based on the very clause that had previously been judged unenforceable under the act." With respect to request thirty-six, the defendant claims that, in failing to charge the jury on the provisions of §§ 31-290 and 31-296, the trial court "permitted the jury to rely upon the unenforceable promise contained in the [a]greement in order to find the defendant liable in derogation of the public policy" of the act. The defendant also contends that the trial court's instructions on unjust enrichment improperly permitted the jury to find in favor of the plaintiff in the absence of proof that any of the defendant's actions or omissions caused the plaintiff injury.
A
Requests Forty-Four and Thirty-Six
We begin our analysis of the defendant's claims with respect to requests forty-four and thirty-six by noting that "[w]e are not required to review issues that have been improperly presented to this court through an inadequate brief.... Analysis, rather than mere abstract assertion, is required in order to avoid abandoning an issue by failure to brief the issue properly.... Where a claim is asserted in the statement of issues but thereafter receives only cursory attention in the brief without substantive discussion or citation of authorities, it is deemed to be abandoned." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Gilmore ,
As the party challenging the jury instructions, the defendant was required to prove that the instructions likely affected the verdict. With respect to request forty-four, the defendant's harm analysis consists of only one sentence in which he claims that, had the trial court given his requested instruction, he "would have been entitled to judgment as a matter of law on the [f]ourth [c]ount of the amended complaint ...." As to request thirty-six, the defendant's harm analysis is similarly brief and asserts that the trial court's charge permitted the plaintiff to recover "in derogation of the protections afforded by the [a]ct" and misled the jury and caused injustice to him. Thus, the defendant's harm analyses consist of only cursory statements. In the absence of additional detail regarding the question of harm, we conclude that these claims of instructional error were inadequately briefed.
Unjust Enrichment Jury Instruction
Turning to the defendant's claim that the trial court improperly instructed the jury on the plaintiff's unjust enrichment cause of action, we note that "[u]nder the general verdict rule, if a jury renders a general verdict for one party, and [the party raising a claim of error on appeal did not request] interrogatories, an appellate court will presume that the jury found every issue in favor of the prevailing party." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Tetreault v. Eslick ,
"This court has held that the general verdict rule applies to the following five situations: (1) denial of separate counts of a complaint; (2) denial of separate defenses pleaded as such; (3) denial of separate legal theories of recovery or defense pleaded in one count or defense, as the case may be; (4) denial of a complaint and pleading of a special defense; and (5) denial of a specific defense, raised under a general denial, that had been asserted as the case was tried but that should have been specially pleaded." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Kalams v. Giacchetto , supra,
In the present case, the defendant claims that the following unjust enrichment instruction by the trial court was improper: "When considering [the defendant's promise to release his workers' compensation claim] I instruct you, as a matter of law, that a promise includes within it a promise to do all that is necessary to carry the promise into effect." The third general verdict situation-separate legal theories of recovery pleaded in one count-is implicated in the present case, barring review of this claim. See Kalams v. Giacchetto , supra,
IV
Finally, we address the defendant's evidentiary claims. The following additional facts are relevant to our resolution of these claims. In accordance with the court's trial management orders, the plaintiff moved to exclude, inter alia, all evidence and argument showing that the commissioner had imposed a $500 fine on the plaintiff as a result of its general counsel's refusal to attend a workers' compensation hearing, including exhibit I, which is the January 8, 2010 order from the commission imposing that fine. The defendant objected
On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly excluded his exhibits G, H, I, J, Z, and JJJ. The defendant contends that these exhibits revealed relevant communications between the parties and the state of mind of the defendant. Moreover, the defendant contends that, contrary to the plaintiff's objection at trial, exhibits G, H, I, J, Z, and JJJ did not constitute hearsay. Specifically, the defendant contends that exhibits G, J, Z, and JJJ did not constitute hearsay because they were not offered for the truth of the matters
A
Exhibits G, H, I, J, and JJJ
We begin our analysis of the defendant's claims with respect to exhibits G, H, I, J, and JJJ by noting that "[m]ootness is a question of justiciability that must be determined as a threshold matter because it implicates [this] court's subject matter jurisdiction ...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Lyon v. Jones , supra,
"Where an appellant fails to challenge all bases for a trial court's adverse ruling on his claim, even if this court were to agree with the appellant on the issues that he does raise, we still would not be able to provide [him] any relief in light of the binding adverse finding[s] [not raised] with respect to those claims.... Therefore, when an appellant challenges a trial court's adverse ruling, but does not challenge all independent bases for that ruling, the appeal is moot." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Lester , supra,
In the present case, the trial court excluded exhibits G, H, J, and JJJ as both hearsay and because their probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. The trial court excluded exhibit I because its probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice and confusion of the issues. On appeal, the defendant challenges the trial court's exclusion of these exhibits only on the limited basis of hearsay. Because there are independent bases for the trial court's exclusion of the evidence that the defendant has not challenged in the present appeal,
B
Exhibit Z
Turing to the defendant's claim with respect to exhibit Z, we set forth the applicable standard of review. "Upon review of a trial court's decision, we will set aside an evidentiary ruling only when there has been a clear abuse of discretion.... The trial court has wide discretion in determining the relevancy of evidence ... and [e]very reasonable presumption should be made in favor of the correctness of the court's ruling in determining whether there has been an abuse of discretion." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Santos ,
"It is a fundamental rule of appellate review of evidentiary rulings that if [the] error is not of constitutional dimensions, an appellant has the burden of establishing
The only mention of the harmfulness of this evidentiary ruling in the defendant's brief consists of only broad statements and a conclusory assertion that the alleged errors "deprived [the] defendant of his opportunity to properly and fairly present his case to the jury and misled the jury ...." Nowhere does the defendant's brief explain how the verdict was likely affected by the trial court's particular exclusion of exhibit Z. Accordingly, because we conclude that the defendant failed to adequately brief the harmfulness of the trial court's evidentiary ruling, he is not entitled to review of his claim with respect to exhibit Z on the merits.
The appeal is dismissed with respect to the defendant's claims regarding exhibits G, H, I, J, and JJJ; the judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
Notes
The defendant appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court, and we transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (c) and Practice Book § 65-1.
General Statutes § 31-290 provides: "No contract, expressed or implied, no rule, regulation or other device shall in any manner relieve any employer, in whole or in part, of any obligation created by this chapter, except as herein set forth."
General Statutes § 31-296 (a) provides: "If an employer and an injured employee, or in case of fatal injury the employee's legal representative or dependent, at a date not earlier than the expiration of the waiting period, reach an agreement in regard to compensation, such agreement shall be submitted in writing to the commissioner by the employer with a statement of the time, place and nature of the injury upon which it is based; and, if such commissioner finds such agreement to conform to the provisions of this chapter in every regard, the commissioner shall so approve it. A copy of the agreement, with a statement of the commissioner's approval, shall be delivered to each of the parties and thereafter it shall be as binding upon both parties as an award by the commissioner. The commissioner's statement of approval shall also inform the employee or the employee's dependent, as the case may be, of any rights the individual may have to an annual cost-of-living adjustment or to participate in a rehabilitation program administered by the Department of Rehabilitation Services under the provisions of this chapter. The commissioner shall retain the original agreement, with the commissioner's approval thereof, in the commissioner's office and, if an application is made to the superior court for an execution, the commissioner shall, upon the request of said court, file in the court a certified copy of the agreement and statement of approval."
We note that § 31-296 (a) has been amended since the events underlying the present appeal. See, e.g., Public Acts, Spec. Sess., June, 2012, No. 12-1, § 85. Those changes are not, however, relevant to the present appeal. For the sake of simplicity, we refer to the current revision of the statute.
The plaintiff subsequently amended its complaint on January 15, 2013, to include a sixth count, alleging that the defendant filed a fraudulent claim for workers' compensation benefits as defined in General Statutes § 31-290c. Given that the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant on this count and that this count is unrelated to the agreement, the defendant has not challenged it on appeal.
The defendant also filed a counterclaim, alleging that the plaintiff instituted the present action against him in retaliation for the exercise of his rights under the act. The trial court subsequently denied the plaintiff's motion to dismiss that counterclaim on the basis of absolute immunity. The plaintiff filed an interlocutory appeal, and, in MacDermid, Inc. v. Leonetti ,
Insofar as the defendant also argues that the plaintiff's unjust enrichment claim is barred by the doctrine of res judicata, we conclude that argument is inadequately briefed. "We repeatedly have stated that [w]e are not required to review issues that have been improperly presented to this court through an inadequate brief.... Analysis, rather than mere abstract assertion, is required in order to avoid abandoning an issue by failure to brief the issue properly.... Where a claim is asserted in the statement of issues but thereafter receives only cursory attention in the brief without substantive discussion or citation of authorities, it is deemed to be abandoned ." (Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Gilmore ,
The plaintiff also argues that an interlocutory appeal previously taken by the defendant bars this appeal on the issue of collateral estoppel. On April 21, 2014, the defendant filed an interlocutory appeal from the trial court's denial of his motion for summary judgment, which was based on a collateral estoppel argument. The plaintiff moved to dismiss the appeal asserting, inter alia, that the Appellate Court lacked subject matter jurisdiction because no final judgment had been rendered. The Appellate Court granted the plaintiff's motion to dismiss the defendant's appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Accordingly, the dismissal of that interlocutory appeal cannot serve as a bar to the present appeal because the Appellate Court did not render a final judgment on the merits of the defendant's collateral estoppel argument. Cf. Santorso v. Bristol Hospital ,
Additionally, the plaintiff argues that the defendant failed to adequately preserve his collateral estoppel defense at trial because the defendant's directed verdict and postverdict motions did not "mention 'collateral estoppel' at all." Although the defendant did not use the phrase "collateral estoppel" in his motions, the record reflects that he did assert the controlling effect of Leonetti in his motion for a directed verdict, his supplemental request to charge, and his posttrial motions. Thus, the defendant provided the trial court and the plaintiff with the basis of his collateral estoppel defense with sufficient clarity to put them on reasonable notice of this defense. Given that the "sine qua non of preservation is fair notice to the trial court," we conclude that the defendant adequately preserved this defense. State v. Jorge P. ,
We also note that no preclusive effect can attach when the prior tribunal lacked jurisdiction to consider the relevant issues. See Bender v. Bender ,
As the trial court noted, "[t]he jury reasonably could have concluded that [the defendant] was unjustly enriched [because, in the absence of] the agreement, [the plaintiff] had no obligation to pay any severance benefits, and [the defendant] had no right to receive them."
Specifically, the defendant contends that, in "Connecticut, there are strong public policy reasons for the oversight of releases by employees of workers' compensation claims." Thus, the defendant claims that, because the plaintiff failed to obtain approval of his workers' compensation claim release, the plaintiff cannot recover under a theory of unjust enrichment as a matter of law. Accordingly, the defendant asserts that the "appropriate remedy is the rendering of judgment for the defendant, notwithstanding the verdict for the plaintiff."
To the extent that the defendant raises additional challenges to the trial court's denial of his postverdict motions, we conclude that any such argument is inadequately briefed. The defendant's brief claims, on a single page, that the trial court "erred in denying the defendant's postverdict motions" and simply incorporates arguments he made throughout the rest of his brief with no analysis specific to his postverdict motions. See Connecticut Light & Power Co. v. Gilmore ,
We also note that the defendant's contention that the plaintiff's recovery for unjust enrichment violates §§ 31-290 and 31-296 and public policy is grounded on the incorrect presumption that the plaintiff's unjust enrichment claim is based solely on the unenforceable workers' compensation release. As discussed previously in this opinion, it is undisputed that the $70,228.51 payment was not a workers' compensation benefit; rather, it was a voluntary severance payment. Moreover, the defendant received full workers' compensation benefits. Thus, the plaintiff's recovery of the $70,228.51 severance payment does not affect the defendant's workers' compensation benefits and did not relieve the plaintiff of its obligations under the act. Accordingly, restitution in this case does not defeat the purpose of the act and, as such, does not violate public policy.
While we are not required to reach the merits of the defendant's argument with respect to requests forty-four and thirty-six, we note that the substance of the defendant's arguments are unpersuasive because, contrary to the defendant's contentions, the trial court adequately instructed the jury regarding this court's holding in Leonetti and the provisions of §§ 31-290 and 31-296. "When reviewing [a] challenged jury instruction ... we must adhere to the well settled rule that a charge to the jury is to be considered in its entirety, read as a whole, and judged by its total effect rather than by its individual component parts.... [T]he test of a court's charge is not whether it is as accurate upon legal principles as the opinions of a court of last resort but whether it fairly presents the case to the jury in such a way that injustice is not done to either party under the established rules of law.... As long as [the instructions] are correct in law, adapted to the issues and sufficient for the guidance of the jury ... we will not view the instructions as improper.... We do not critically dissect a jury instruction." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Ancheff v. Hartford Hospital ,
The defendant similarly claims that the trial court improperly instructed the jury that it should not consider whether the defendant's promises were unenforceable and that, "[because] the [commission] did not approve the [agreement], you may find that [the defendant] would be unjustly enriched by retaining the benefits of that agreement." These claims are also barred by the general verdict rule for the same reason.
Exhibits C, F, and G are various letters from the defendant's attorney to the plaintiff's attorney regarding the workers' compensation release contained in the agreement. Exhibit D is a December 22, 2009 letter from the defendant's attorney to the plaintiff's attorney containing a copy of a notice for an informal hearing before the commission on January 8, 2010. Exhibit H is an affidavit from the attorney that represented the plaintiff before the commission in support of its motion to quash and motion for a protective order. Exhibit J is a January 19, 2010 letter from the plaintiff's former attorney advising the commission that he no longer represented the plaintiff. Exhibit K is a copy of a notification of appearance dated January 27, 2010. Exhibit L is copy of a notice for an informal hearing before the commission on March 1, 2010.
Exhibit JJJ is a version of exhibit G, a letter from the defendant's attorney to the plaintiff's attorney, created by the defense during trial. The trial court excluded it on the same grounds as exhibit G-namely, hearsay, its probative value was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice, and confusion of the issues.
We also note that, during oral argument before this court, the defendant appears to have conceded this point by acknowledging that he failed to challenge all of the bases on which the trial court excluded these exhibits. Specifically, in response to the assertion that there were alternative grounds for the exclusion of these exhibits, the defendant stated: "I would concede, Your Honor, that we briefed the question of admissibility on the basis of hearsay .... We'll continue to rely on the brief."