This is an appeal, after certification, from a judgment of the Appellate Court affirming a decision of the Superior Court, which awarded damages to the plaintiffs as a result of the defendant’s negligent preparation of a boundary survey of the plaintiffs’ land. We granted certification to review the judgment of the Appellate Court on various issues relating to the trial court’s (1) finding that the defendant was negligent, (2) award of certain damages, and (3) award of statutory prejudgment interest on these damages. We find error in the Appellate Court's resolution of the last issue only and modify the interest award.
The decision of the Appellate Court more fully describes the underlying facts and procedural history. Neiditz v. Morton S. Fine & Associates, Inc., 2 Conn. App. 322, 479 A.2d 249 (1984). Sometime in 1955, the defendant, a professional corporation engaged in the business of land surveying and civil engineering, was asked by the plaintiffs to prepare a perimeter survey of their property located at the northwest corner of South Main Street and New Britain Avenue in West Hartford. At that time the defendant reviewed the appropriate land records, conducted on-site field work and prepared the requested map. In 1972, the plaintiffs desired to obtain a zone change from the town of West Hartford in order to permit the construction of commercial and office buildings and requested that the defendant prepare the necessary map delineating the courses and dimensions of each boundary of the plaintiffs’ land. Instead of conducting a new survey, the
Shortly thereafter, upon further investigation necessary to initiate development of the land, the defendant discovered that its survey inaccurately depicted the shape of the plaintiffs’ property. The town of West Hartford deemed this error to be a material change in the plaintiffs’ zoning application and voided its earlier approval of the zone change, requiring the plaintiffs to resubmit an application accompanied by an accurate survey. A second application was made with a new site plan prepared by the defendant correcting the error. This second application was granted on January 12, 1973, contingent, however, on compliance with eight conditions involving various design and structural modifications to the proposed development plan of the plaintiffs’ property. On June 11,1973, the second zoning approval became operative after an appeal by a contiguous property owner had been dismissed.
The plaintiffs instituted the present action based on the defendant’s negligence and breach of contract
From this judgment the defendant appealed to the Appellate Court which found no error in the trial court’s conclusions. Upon the granting of certification, the defendant appeals to this court. As we often have recognized, the focus of our review on cases before us on certification is the judgment of the Appellate Court, not of the Superior Court. Metropolitan District v. Barkhamsted, 199 Conn. 294, 297-98, 507 A.2d 92 (1986); State v. Torrence, 196 Conn. 430, 433, 493 A.2d 865 (1985).
As it did before the Appellate Court, the defendant claims that the trial court could not have found the defendant negligent in 1972 because no expert testimony was produced as to the standard of care required by a skilled civil engineer of ordinary prudence under similar circumstances. See Johnson v. Flammia, 169 Conn. 491, 496, 363 A.2d 1048 (1975); Scribner v. O’Brien, Inc., 169 Conn. 389, 400, 363 A.2d 160 (1975); Ferrie v. Sperry, 85 Conn. 337, 343, 82 A. 577 (1912). The defendant concedes that the plaintiffs’ expert tes
The defendant also claims that the trial court found negligent conduct that had not been alleged in the plaintiffs’ complaint and that, in sustaining the trial court’s conclusion, the Appellate Court relied on negligent conduct different from that found by the trial court as well as different from that alleged. As previously stated, the allegation of negligence was that the defendant had negligently failed to make an accurate survey of the plaintiffs’ land and to establish its correct boundaries and topography. The trial court found that the defendant was negligent in certifying the 1972 map to be substantially correct and in submitting it to the plaintiffs while being fully cognizant that it was to be used to support an application for a zone change, when it knew or should have known that the 1955 map was inaccurate. We conclude that this finding was not at variance with the allegations of the complaint. It is clear
The balance of the defendant’s claims of error relate to the damages found by the trial court and sustained by the Appellate Court, and to the interest awarded on those damages. The defendant first claims error with respect to the award of damages for the costs incurred by the plaintiffs in satisfying the conditions imposed by the zoning board in its second zone change approval. The defendant claims that it should not be held responsible for these costs because they were not demonstrated to have been the proximate result of its negligence. The gravamen of its claim is that had the initial survey been accurate the eight conditions imposed by the town would have been imposed when
The defendant also claims that the award of property taxes for the time period between the first zoning approval and the dismissal of the appeal from the
The defendant’s final claim of error relates to the award of prejudgment interest. The trial court awarded prejudgment interest under General Statutes § 37-3a
As a general rule of construction, statutes which effect “substantial changes in the law” are not to be given retroactive application unless the legislature has expressly so declared. American Masons’ Supply Co. v. F. W. Brown Co., 174 Conn. 219, 222-23, 384 A.2d 378 (1978); Michaud v. Fitzryk, 148 Conn. 447, 449, 171 A.2d 397 (1961). The amendment to § 37-3a, raising the statutory interest rate to 8 percent, clearly effectuates a substantial change in the law because debtors then became exposed to greater financial consequences for the “detention of money after it becomes payable.” General Statutes § 37-3a. We find nothing in the amendment or its legislative history indicating an intent to authorize the increased interest rate for a period prior to its enactment. The amendment increasing the rate of interest was only prospective in its operation, and was not intended to modify obligations which had already been fixed prior to its enactment.
Fundamental principles of fairness also militate against applying the higher statutory rate retroactively. As the Appellate Court recognized, interest awarded under the statute is intended to compensate the prevailing party for a delay in obtaining money that rightfully belongs to him. Porter v. Clerk of the Superior Court, 368 Mass. 116, 330 N.E.2d 206 (1975). The statutory rate of interest embodied in § 37-3a presumably reflects
Accordingly, the judgment is set aside and the case is remanded with direction to render judgment as on
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
Although the plaintiffs did allege a breach of contract by the defendant, the decision of the trial court was based solely on the defendant’s negligence in performance of its contract obligations. The parties have not, either before this court or the Appellate Court, raised the breach of contract issue except as the basis for establishing the defendant’s duty to exercise reasonable care.
This conclusion also resolves an additional claim of the defendant, raised in its petition for certification and addressed in its brief, that the plaintiffs’ action was time barred by General Statutes §§ 52-584 and 52-576 because it was predicated on 1955 conduct of the defendant. Because we agree with the Appellate Court that the plaintiffs adequately established the defendant’s negligent conduct in 1972, the action was not time barred.
We point out that the law of torts differs from the law of contracts with respect to the applicable causation standard for awarding damages. Under the circumstances of this case, the plaintiffs are entitled to recover all damages proximately caused by the defendant’s negligent performance of the contract, whether or not the consequences were reasonably anticipated. Johnson v. Flammia, 169 Conn. 491, 499, 363 A.2d 1048 (1975); Mahoney v. Beatman, 110 Conn. 184, 188, 147 A. 762 (1930). In an action founded solely on breach of contract, however, the recovery of the plaintiffs would have been limited to those damages the defendant had reason to foresee as the probable result of the breach at the time when the contract was made. 3 Restatement (Second), Contracts § 351 (1979); Farnsworth, Contracts § 12.14 (1982).
In relevant part, General Statutes (Rev. to 1981) § 37-3a provides: “[I]nterest at the rate of 8 per cent a year, and no more, may be recovered and allowed in civil actions ... as damages for the detention of money after it becomes payable
The statute was amended again in 1983 to increase the interest rate to 10 percent. Public Acts 1983, No. 83-267, § 1, effective October 1,1983.