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CONNECTICUT OPINIONS FEBRUARY 1, 2021 ¦ 39

Plaintiff was injured by an uninsured motor- LABOR LAW
ist, and brought a claim against defendant in-
surance company to cover loss. Plaintiff then Court Denies Summary Judgment in
brought an offer to compromise with the de- Employment Discrimination Action
fendant, however the defendant moved for the
court to strike the offer, or in the alternative to
allow defendant more time to complete discov- CASE: Murawski v. Diesel Direct, Inc.
COURT: Hartford J.D. at Hartford
ery prior to accepting the offer to compromise. DOC. NO.: CV-19-6105396
Defendant argued striking the offer would not COURT OPINION BY: Taylor
be prejudicial, and would allow continued re- DATE: January 08, 2021 • PAGES: 14
view of medical bills and depositions. The court Plaintiff, a 64-year old woman, worked for defen-
granted the motion to strike, effective until the dant as an assistant to non-party Owens. Plaintiff
end of May 2021, wherein if plaintiff did not alleged that, during her two years of employment,
provide all requested delivery the court would Owens would frequently invite a young woman
vacate the order and deny the motion to strike into his office to engage in sexual activities, and that
the offer for compromise. this behavior made plaintiff feel uncomfortable.
Plaintiff also required extra time off to address a
family emergency, and after a health scare Owens
JUDGES • DAMAGES brought in a new assistant who began to take over

Court Granted Defendant’s Motion to plaintiff’s position. Plaintiff explained that the new
Disqualify Judge and Remanded for assistant was a younger, attractive woman, whom
Owens admitted to being infatuated with and who
Owens would deliberately spend more time with
New Trial on Noneconomic Damages training. Eventually, plaintiff was terminated from

CASE: Autry v. Hosey her employment, and replaced with the new assis-
COURT: New Haven J.D. at New Haven
DOC. NO.: CV-17-6067067 tant. Plaintiff brought a four-count claim against
the defendant, including discrimination against her
COURT OPINION BY: Wilson as the victim of a crime, sex-based hostile work en-
DATE: January 11, 2021 • PAGES: 5 vironment, perceived disability discrimination, and
age discrimination. Defendant moved for summa-
In 2016, plaintiff brought an action against defen- ry judgment, arguing that plaintiff was frequently
dants Hosey and the City of New Haven arising tardy for her position, and took off too much time
out of a claim for damages for a motor vehicle ac- for her family emergency. The court granted sum-
cident in which plaintiff, a pedestrian, was struck mary judgment as to count one, discrimination
by Hosey, the operator of a police cruiser, during against her as victim of a crime, but denied sum-
the scope and course of his employment for the mary judgment as to the remaining three counts.
City of New Haven. In 2019, the court entered The court found there were material facts between
judgment in plaintiff’s favor, citing emotional the parties as to Owen’s sexually driven behav-
trauma suffered by pedestrians struck by vehicles ior, her own health scare, and age discrimination.
as opposed to that suffered by those involved in The court found the defendant did not sufficiently
automobile accidents as drivers or passengers. show plaintiff’s termination was not pretextual,
The court factored that statement into its noneco- and denied the motion for summary judgment as
nomic damages award of $30,000. Defendants ap- to counts two, three, and four.
pealed the noneconomic damages award and the
Appellate Court reversed only as to that award
and remanded for a hearing in damages. In 2020,
defendants moved, pursuant to General Statutes MEDICAL MALPRACTICE

§51-183c, to disqualify Judge Abrams from presid- Court Grants Dismissal of Medical
ing over a remote hearing, citing the fact that “no
judge of any court who tried a case without a jury Malpractice Action where Opinion
in which a new trial is granted … may again Letter Lacked Qualifications
try the case.” The court granted defendant’s mo-
tion to disqualify Judge Abrams and remanded CASE: Murphy v. Delvecchio
for a new trial only on the issue of noneconomic COURT: Fairfield J.D. at Bridgeport
damages, finding that the Appellate Court’s rever- DOC. NO.: CV-20-6098980
sal of the trial court’s judgment as to damages fell COURT OPINION BY: Welch
within the scope of §51-183c. DATE: January 11, 2021 • PAGES: 11

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