246 A.2d 206 | Conn. Super. Ct. | 1968
Defendants have filed a motion that the plaintiff George Mulligan be required to submit to a physical examination by William B. Scoville, a physician. Although both plaintiffs have filed an objection to such examination, the court will dispose of the defendants' motion on the basis of the objection filed by the plaintiff George Mulligan. At the hearing on the motion the defendants, while asserting the propriety of the examination in aid of their defense, made no showing that Scoville was the only qualified physician available for the purpose, and the plaintiff George Mulligan, while indicating a willingness to be examined by a number of qualified physicians other than Scoville, made no showing that Scoville was not qualified to conduct the requested examination. The narrow issue presented by the defendants' motion in this posture is whether the court has any authority, discretionary or otherwise, to grant the present motion over the plaintiff George Mulligan's objection.
Section
Judicial discretion means "`a legal discretion, to be exercised in conformity with the spirit of the law and in a manner to subserve and not to impede or defeat the ends of substantial justice. In a plain case this discretion has no office to perform, and its exercise is limited to doubtful cases, where an impartial mind hesitates.'" Hammerberg v. Leinert,
The defendants urge further that even if the court lacks discretion in the face of an objection the plaintiff must nevertheless show a sound basis for his *14
objection to a particular physician. Although the defendants use the phrase "good faith," what they really mean is good cause. Good faith means "`[a]n honest intention to abstain from taking an unconscientious advantage of another, even through the forms or technicalities of law, together with an absence of all information or belief of facts which would render the transaction unconscientious.'"Snyder v. Reshenk,
Applying §
Accordingly, the defendants' motion is denied.