207 Conn. 308 | Conn. | 1988
This is a breach of contract action. The parties to this appeal have been involved in litigation for more than thirteen years. This is the fourth time this case has been before this court, and we have heretofore clearly and adequately set forth the facts leading to the breach of contract. West Haven v. Impact, 174 Conn. 160, 384 A.2d 353 (1978); New Haven Savings Bank v. West Haven Sound Development, 190 Conn. 60, 459 A.2d 999 (1983); West Haven Sound Development Corporation v. West Haven, 201 Conn. 305, 514 A.2d 734 (1986). Therefore, a brief summary of the facts will suffice to establish the context of this appeal.
Early in 1973, the plaintiff, West Haven Sound Development Corporation, and the West Haven Development Agency entered into a contract under which the defendant, city of West Haven, conveyed a parcel of land to the plaintiff to be used pursuant to the defendant’s urban renewal plan for the Savin Rock area of West Haven. The plan, which was incorporated by reference into the contract, provided for development of commercial, recreational and apartment uses on a substantial portion of the land in Savin Rock, The contract expressly provided that no modification of the plan affecting the rights of the redevelopers could be made without their consent. Pursuant to the contract, the plaintiff constructed a restaurant, called Phyllis’, Inc., on its land and opened for business in December, 1973.
On October 17, 1974, the voters of West Haven passed a referendum requiring the defendant to annul its redevelopment plan and convert the remaining undeveloped land into a public park. The defendant sought the consent of the redevelopers to this purported modification of the plan; the plaintiff and several other redevelopers withheld their consent. The defendant
In May, 1977, Phyllis’, Inc., closed. The plaintiff brought an action alleging that the defendant had breached its contract with the plaintiff by modifying the plan and that the breach had caused its business to fail. At trial, the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff in the amount of $3.1 million. The defendant appealed to this court. We found no error on the issue of liability but remanded the case to the trial court for a new trial limited to the issue of damages. West Haven Sound Development Corporation v. West Haven, supra. On remand, the jury awarded damages of $300,000, to which the court added $282,230.14 in interest calculated from the date of the breach to the date of the verdict.
The plaintiff appeals on the following grounds: (1) the trial court permitted the issue of causation to be relitigated; (2) the court’s interrogatories confused the jury as to the concept of foreseeability of damages; (3) the plaintiff was prejudiced by the interrogatories; (4) mitigation expenses were erroneously subjected to the test of foreseeability; and (5) the trial court erred in its instructions to the jury as to the method of evaluating the plaintiff’s business following the defendant’s breach. The defendant cross appeals on the ground that interest should not have been awarded, but if correctly awarded, it should not have been computed from October 17, 1974, the date of the breach, but from January 3,1978, the date of our decision in West Haven v. Impact, supra.
causation
Prior to commencement of the trial on damages, the plaintiff filed a motion in limine asking the court to limit the trial to a determination of the amount and foreseeability of damages, and to preclude the issue of causation of the plaintiff’s business failure. The trial court denied the motion,
The plaintiff argues: that in allowing causation to be relitigated on remand, the trial court went beyond the scope of our mandate; that this court affirmed the jury’s finding of causation and this affirmation became the law of the case; that causation was res judicata; and
“ ‘In carrying out a mandate of this court, the trial court is limited to the specific direction of the mandate as interpreted in light of the opinion. [Emphasis added.] Mazzotta v. Bornstein, 105 Conn. 242, 243, 135 A. 38 [1926]. This is the guiding principle that the trial court must observe. State Bar Assn. v. Connecticut Bank & Trust Co., 146 Conn. 556, 561, 153 A.2d 453 [1959], Compliance means that the direction is not deviated from. The trial court cannot adjudicate rights and duties not within the scope of the remand. Humphrey v. Gerard, 84 Conn. 216, 221-22, 79 A. 57 [1911].’ Nowell v. Nowell, 163 Conn. 116, 121, 302 A.2d 260 (1972); State v. Avcollie, 188 Conn. 626, 643, 453 A.2d 418 (1982). ‘It is the duty of the trial court on remand to comply strictly with the mandate of the appellate court according to its true intent and meaning. No judgment other than that directed or permitted by the reviewing court may be rendered, even though it may be one that the appellate court might have directed. The trial court should examine the mandate and the opinion of the reviewing court and proceed in conformity with the views expressed therein. ’ (Emphasis added.) Nowell v. Nowell, supra.” Wendland v. Ridgefield Construction Services, Inc., 190 Conn. 791, 794-95, 462 A.2d 1043 (1983).
The trial court, in denying the plaintiffs motion in limine, initially expressed some uncertainty as to what this court intended the scope of the proceedings on remand to be, but acknowledged that it was bound by the principles enunciated in Wendland v. Ridgefield Construction Services, Inc., supra. It ultimately construed our opinion in West Haven Sound Development Corporation v. West Haven, supra, to permit consideration of causation as it pertains to determining damages related to the breach. The trial court was correct.
We attributed these results to the absence of appropriate instructions to the jury as to how they were to compute damages if they found a breach. Id., 327. We noted that the jury had been “left to calculate damages in their largely unbridled discretion,” without having had the elements of damages identified, delineated or explained. Id., 333. Further, recognizing the complexity of this case, we stated that, on remand, the trial court should afford the jury detailed guidance on the legal
The trial court, therefore, correctly permitted the trial on remand to embrace the issue of what damages had been caused by the breach. The fact of the breach, itself, was not before the jury; that issue had been resolved at the first trial and the defendant’s liability had been established and upheld by this court. The trial court, in its opening remarks, and repeatedly in its instructions to the jury, cautioned the jury that the defendant had already been found to have breached its contract with the plaintiff and that the jury was to consider damages only. Determination of damages necessarily contemplates a finding that the breach was the cause of the damages claimed. “It is hornbook law that to be entitled to damages in contract a plaintiff must establish a causal relation between the breach and the damages flowing from that breach. Such causal relation must be more than surmise or conjecture, inasmuch as a trier is concerned not with possibilities but with
Furthermore, the jury-was given interrogatories in which they were asked to state whether each element of damages claimed by the plaintiff had been caused by the defendant’s breach. In all cases, the jury answered in the affirmative. Accordingly, even if the court had erred in allowing causation to be relitigated, this error resulted in no harm to the plaintiff in whose favor each interrogatory regarding causation was answered.
INTERROGATORIES
The plaintiff’s second, third and fourth claims are addressed to alleged errors in the jury interrogatories and, thus, may be treated together. The plaintiff argues that the interrogatories propounded by the court to the jury misinformed the jury about the concept of foreseeability of damages and resulted in answers that were internally inconsistent. The plaintiff contends further that the interrogatories improperly guided the jury to its verdict, rather than explaining or limiting the verdict, as provided by Practice Book § 312.
At the close of the evidence and before the court charged the jury, counsel and the court discussed the content and scope of the interrogatories to be presented to the jury.
JURY CHARGE ON LOSS OF VALUE OF BUSINESS
The plaintiff contends that the trial court’s charge to the jury on diminution in the value of the plaintiff’s business occasioned by the defendant’s breach unduly limited the time frame to be considered by the jury. Specifically, the plaintiff takes issue with the court’s instruction that the jury was limited to considering the value of the business immediately before and immediately after the breach so that the jury was foreclosed from considering damages that arose subsequent to the breach.
“ ‘The general rule in breach of contract cases is that the award of damages is designed to place the injured party, so far as can be done by money, in the same position as he would have been in had the contract been performed.’ ” West Haven Sound Development Corporation v. West Haven, supra, 319; Gordon v. Indusco Management Corporation, 164 Conn. 262, 272, 320 A.2d 811 (1973). Damages for breach of contract are to be determined as of the time of the occurrence of the breach. Kevin Roche-John Dinkeloo & Associates v. New Haven, 205 Conn. 741, 749, 535 A.2d 1287 (1988); Gordon v. Indusco Management Corporation,
A court’s charge to the jury is tested by whether it fairly presents the case to the jury so that injustice is not done to either party under the established rules of law. Holbrook v. Casazza, 204 Conn. 336, 351-52, 528 A.2d 774 (1987), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 1006, 108 S. Ct. 699, 98 L. Ed. 2d 651 (1988); Borsoi v. Sparico, 141 Conn. 366, 371, 106 A.2d 170 (1954). Here, the trial court identified for the jury the three categories of damages claimed by the plaintiff: (1) damages for loss of business; (2) damages for a deficiency judgment rendered against the plaintiff in an action to foreclose a mortgage on the premises of Phyllis’, Inc.;
“In determining what damages, if any, the plaintiff suffered because of the breach of contract on Octo
The court added that the jury was required to assess the status of the business as of October, 1974, immediately before and immediately following the breach. The court then summarized the testimony of the expert witnesses for both sides as to pre- and postbreach evaluations. The plaintiff took an exception to the court’s instruction that the postbreach value be ascertained as of the time immediately following the breach. Counsel for the plaintiff conceded that the determination of damages must be made as of the time immediately following the breach, but nonetheless asserted that the time frame was unusually confining because “certain things . . . may have gone on for a period of time after, shall we say, after—ten minutes after the decision on October the 17th of 1974, [and] definitely have [been] a positive factor to a determination as to the total amount of damages.” In its brief to this court, the plaintiff claims that the charge prevented the jury from considering any circumstances that arose following the breach.
We conclude that the jury charge fairly presented the case to the jury and was correct in its articulation of
Finally, the plaintiff contends that the charge prevented the jury from looking to the future to determine the extent to which the plaintiff was obliged to mitigate damages, and to ascertain damages incurred in so doing. The plaintiff also asserts that the jury’s consideration of damages arising from the deficiency judgment was likewise affected. We note that the court gave the jury separate instructions as to each of these issues. A fair reading of the charge discloses that the time frame applicable to assessing damages for loss of business was not imposed on the determination of the other elements of damages nor has the plaintiff suggested any reading of the charge that supports its argument. Accordingly, we find this claim to be without merit.
The Defendant’s Cross Appeal
The defendant appeals on the ground that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding prejudgment interest on the verdict calculated from the date of the breach to the date of the verdict. The ninth interrogatory presented to the jury the issue of whether the defendant had wrongfully detained money damages due
The allowance of prejudgment interest as an element of damages is an equitable determination and a matter lying within the discretion of the trial court. H.B. Toms Tree Surgery, Inc. v. Brant, 187 Conn. 343, 348, 446 A.2d 1 (1982); Cecio Bros., Inc. v. Feldman, 161 Conn. 265, 275, 287 A.2d 374 (1971). Before awarding interest, the trial court must ascertain whether the defendant has wrongfully detained money damages due the plaintiff. Cecio Bros., Inc. v. Feldman, supra, 274-75. Interest on such damages ordinarily begins to run from the time it is due and payable to the plaintiff. Id. “The determination of whether or not interest is to be recognized as a proper element of damage, is one to be made in view of the demands of justice rather than through the application of an arbitrary rule.” Bernhard v. Rochester German Ins. Co., 79 Conn. 388, 398, 65 A. 134 (1906).
At a posttrial hearing, the defendant objected to the allowance of interest arguing that the defendant had not supported the referendum that resulted in the breach and that it did not become clear that a breach had occurred until this court decided West Haven v. Impact, supra. Thus, the defendant asserted, interest, if any, should run from January, 1978. The defendant further argued that, in light of the history of this case,
The defendant has renewed these same arguments in its brief and at oral argument before this court. As to its opposition to the referendum, we remind the defendant that its identification with its electorate, and thus, its liability for the effect of the referendum, has been established. West Haven Sound Development Corporation v. West Haven, supra. Accordingly, we shall not entertain this contention. Furthermore, as at trial, the defendant has cited no authority for its argument as to the time from which interest should be calculated, nor are we aware of any authority suggesting the result sought by the defendant. Were we to follow the defendant’s logic, interest could never be awarded from the time of breach but only upon establishment of the fact of the breach after trial or, as in this case, upon an appellate court’s reversal of an erroneous trial court decision. That is simply not the law in this state. See, e.g., Sabo v. Strolis, 148 Conn. 504, 506, 172 A.2d 609 (1961) (interest allowed from date of breach of construction contract); Stoddard v. Sagal, 86 Conn. 346, 350, 85 A. 519 (1912) (contract for legal services, refusal to pay debt; interest allowed from presentation of the bill to the date of verdict); Loomis v. Norman Printers Supply Co., 81 Conn. 343, 350, 71 A. 358 (1908) (contract for goods; interest to be computed from the date of breach, not from the date of contract). Therefore,
There is no error in either the plaintiffs appeal or the defendant’s cross appeal.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
The defendant briefed two adverse rulings of the trial court, asking for review in the event we granted the plaintiff a new trial. In light of our disposition of this case, we need not address those issues.
The defendant, relying on our decision in State v. Bell, 188 Conn. 406, 410, 450 A.2d 356 (1982), argues that the trial court’s denial of the plaintiff’s pretrial motion in limine is not reviewable and that the plaintiff, by failing to object at trial to the introduction of evidence of causation, forfeited its right to appeal this issue. We disagree. Effective October 1,1986, Practice Book § 4185 was amended to provide in part: “In jury trials, where there is a motion, argument, or offer of proof or evidence in the absence of the jury, whether during trial or before, pertaining to an issue that later arises in the presence of the jury, and counsel has fully complied with the requirements for preserving any objection or exception to the judge’s adverse ruling thereon in the absence of the jury, the matter shall be deemed to be distinctly raised at the trial for purposes of [preservation on appeal] without a further objection or exception provided that the grounds for such objection or exception, and the ruling thereon as previously articulated, remain the same.” Immediately following the court’s denial of the motion in limine, the plaintiff requested and was granted an exception. We, therefore, consider the plaintiff’s claim to be reviewable. See State v. Kluttz, 9 Conn. App. 686, 703 n.12, 521 A.2d 178 (1987).
Practice Book § 312 provides in relevant part: “The court may submit to the jury interrogatories for the purpose of explaining or limiting a general verdict, which shall be answered and delivered to the clerk as a part of the verdict.”
Both the plaintiff and the defendant had submitted proposed interrogatories to the trial court.
See New Haven Savings Bank v. West Haven Sound Development, 190 Conn. 60, 459 A.2d 999 (1983).