Page 33 - CLT010421

CONNECTICUT OPINIONS JANUARY 4, 2021 ¦ 33

Plaintiff law firm brought a claim against LANDLORD TENANT LAW •
defendant, their former client, for breach of
contract and unjust enrichment to recover for PERSONAL INJURY

compensation related to legal services ren- Breach in Lease Does Not Bar All
dered in a prior bankruptcy action. Defendant Claims to Which Tenant May be Entitled
denied that the plaintiff law firm fully per-
formed the agreed-upon services, and plaintiff
moved for summary judgment on the breach CASE: Peck v. Murphy
of contract claim arguing the bankruptcy COURT: Danbury J.D.
DOC. NO.: CV-20-6035477
judgment gave rise to res judicata. The court COURT OPINION BY: Kowalski
agreed, finding that the four factors for res ju- DATE: December 11, 2020 • PAGES: 6
dicata applied and that there was no issue of Plaintiffs leased a two-story property owned
material fact that defendant signed a written by defendant, and requested defendant hire an
agreement with the plaintiff. The court grant- electrician to make the proper accommodations
ed the motion for summary judgment in favor to install a clothes dryer. Instead, defendant
of the plaintiff law firm. chose to install the dryer himself, and several
years later the dryer caused a fire which resulted
in injuries to the plaintiffs. Plaintiffs brought
DISCOVERY • PREMISES LIABILITY claims of negligence and breach of duty of care,

Court Ordered that Plaintiff’s Mental and defendant brought special defenses of con-
Health Records be Discovered to tributory negligence and asserted that the plain-
Defense in Slip and Fall Lawsuit tiff ’s claims were barred because they breached
Alleging Mental Pain and Suffering the terms of their lease or were contributorily
negligent. Plaintiffs moved to strike the second
special defense, arguing there was no authority
citing that breach of lease terms served to bar
CASE: Johansson v. Covenant Home, Inc. negligence claims and that contributory negli-
COURT: Hartford J.D. at Hartford gence had already been asserted in the first spe-
DOC. NO.: CV-19-6107179 cial defense, and the court granted the motion.
COURT OPINION BY: Lynch The court agreed with plaintiff, and found pub-
DATE: December 07, 2020 • PAGES: 9 lic policy favors the rule that a simple breach of
a residential lease would not bar any rights or
Plaintiff slipped and fell at defendant’s prem- remedies to which a tenant would be otherwise
ises. Plaintiff allegedly suffered a fracture, entitled. The court granted the motion to strike.
knee pain, aggravation of a pre-existing
back condition, pain and suffering, and sev-
eral other injuries. Defendant filed a motion
for an order compelling plaintiff to produce MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

authorizations for her medical and mental Court Denied Defendant’s Motion
health records after plaintiff failed to do so
in April 2019. The court granted the motion.
The court ordered plaintiff to provide records to Strike Medical Malpractice Claim
of her mental health treatment for the last 10 and Found the Opinion Letter to be
years, as well as her medical records of treat- Sufficient
ment for her alleged injuries. The court rea-
soned that plaintiff was claiming mental pain CASE: Marcell v. Bishop Wicke Health & Rehab. Ctr. Inc.
and suffering as part of the injuries she sus- COURT: Fairfield J.D. at Bridgeport
tained, so information from plaintiff ’s general DOC. NO.: CV-20-6099273
physician regrading her mental health treat- COURT OPINION BY: Cordani
ment was material to the pending action. The DATE: December 09, 2020 • PAGES: 12

Michael Marcell was a patient at defendant’s
court added that in order to present a defense, medical rehabilitation facility for a week and a
defendant must be allowed to challenge that half. During his stay, Marcell fell and sustained
plaintiff ’s mental pain and suffering was at- two hip and femur fractures. Michael Marcell
tributable to this slip and fall, and not from passed away, and his estate filed a lawsuit alleging
other causes. Plaintiff herself placed her men- medical malpractice. Defendant moved to dis-
tal health in issue. miss and the court denied the motion. Plaintiff

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