57 Conn. App. 12 | Conn. App. Ct. | 2000
Opinion
The defendants, Washington Heights Condominium Association, Inc., and Professional Property Management Company, Inc., appeal from the judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff, Mechelle Medcalf, after a jury trial. The jury awarded to the plaintiff $4778.44 in economic damages and $110,000 in noneconomic damages. On appeal, the defendants claim that the trial court improperly (1) refused to direct or set aside the verdict and render judgment for the defendants as a matter of law, (2) admitted into evidence certain crime statistics and denied the defendants’ request to examine the crime statistics witness, (3) denied the defendants’ motion in arrest of judgment, (4) charged the jury on the issues of cause and the
The following facts are relevant to our resolution of this appeal. On June 20, 1990, the plaintiff and a friend, Deborah Michelson, arrived at 1633 Washington Boulevard in Stamford at approximately 9 p.m. to visit a friend, Tracy Skiades. The defendant Washington Heights Condominium Association, Inc., is a Connecticut coiporation comprised of the unit owners of the premises. The defendant Professional Property Management Company, Inc., is the managing agent in control of the operation, management and repair of the premises.
The plaintiff parked her car in the street level parking lot and walked to the lobby doors. The lighting in the parking lot was dim. She picked up the intercom outside the lobby and called Skiades. The intercom was answered by Skiades’ brother-in-law, who told Skiades that the plaintiff was downstairs. Skiades then attempted to let the plaintiff into the lobby by using the electronic buzzer system. The system failed to work, and Skiades told the plaintiff that she would come down and let her in. Before Skiades could admit her, the plaintiff was attacked by a man, later identified as Kenneth Strickler. She suffered injuries as a result of the attack.
The jury, in response to interrogatories presented to it, returned a verdict for the plaintiff on only the following count of the complaint: “[failure to] maintain the building telephone security intercom communication
The defendants claim that the court improperly denied their motion for a directed verdict. We agree.
Our review of a trial court’s refusal to direct a verdict takes place within veiy defined parameters.
The dispositive issue in this appeal is whether there is a causal connection between the assault and the failure of the security system. We conclude that the jury could not reasonably have found that, the failure to maintain the intercom security system was the proximate cause of the assault.
The elements in a negligence cause of action are duty,
The second component is proximate cause. “Proximate cause establishes a reasonable connection between an act or omission of a defendant and the harm suffered by a plaintiff.” W. Prosser & W. Keeton, supra, § 41, p. 263. “The Connecticut Supreme Court has defined proximate cause as [a]n actual cause that is a substantial factor in the resulting harm .... The substantial factor test reflects the inquiry fundamental
In Doe v. Manheimer, supra, 212 Conn. 762, our Supreme Court was not persuaded that the owner of a property should reasonably foresee that an overgrowth
Suarez follows the proximate cause analysis in Doe. In Suarez, the court held that the defendant’s negligence in providing locks and knobs on an apartment door did not create a risk of the type of harm suffered by the plaintiff and, thus, was not the proximate cause of the injuries suffered by the plaintiff. Suarez v. Sordo, supra, 43 Conn. App. 770.
In the present case, the plaintiff offered no evidence that the malfunctioning intercom system was designed to provide security to a person outside the building. The defendants’ failure to maintain the intercom system was inconsequential and was not the proximate cause of the assault. The injury may likely have occurred without any negligence with respect to the intercom system.
The defendants could not have reasonably foreseen that a malfunctioning intercom system might provide a substantial incentive or inducement for the commission of a violent criminal assault on their property by one stranger upon another. See Doe v. Manheimer, supra, 212 Conn. 762.
We rule that, as a matter of law, the jury could not reasonably have found that the assault on the plaintiff and the resultant injury were within the foreseeable scope of risk created by the defendants’ failure to maintain the intercom system. Therefore, the plaintiff failed to establish the necessary causal relationship.
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded with direction to render judgment for the defendants.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Because we agree with the defendants’ first claim, we find it unnecessary to address the remaining claims.
“Our standard of review for motions to direct a verdict, motions to set aside a verdict and motions for judgment notwithstanding the verdict are the same. See Foley v. Huntington Co., 42 Conn. App. 712, 724, 682 A.2d 1026 [cert. denied, 239 Conn. 931, 683 A.2d 397] (1996) . . . .” (Citations omitted.) Suarez v. Sordo, 43 Conn. App. 756, 759, 685 A.2d 1144 (1996), cert. denied, 240 Conn. 906, 688 A.2d 334 (1997).
We decline to address the issue of duty, but rather decide the issue on the matter of proximate cause.