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CONNECTICUT OPINIONS JUNE 7, 2021 ■ 39
from the school board. This is because statute of the retirement community where she lived.
explicitly names board of education members Plaintiff brought a claim against the manage-
as employees for the purposes of indemnifica- ment company as operator of the facility, as
tion. Defendant members of school board then well as the defendant Somers Housing Au-
asserted that they were employees of the board thority who owned the property from which
rather than the city and so could not be held the management company was a lessee. The
liable for inaction. But the court cited Heigl v. defendant Housing Authority moved for sum-
Board of Education of New Canaan, where it mary judgment, arguing they did not have
was held that a school board is an agent of a control or responsibility of the property at
city, and the court asserted that as an agent for the time of the injury, and therefore owed no
the city, it would have a duty to provide for stu- duty to the plaintiff. The court found that the
dents’ safety. management company possessed control and
maintained the property at the time of the
Slip and Fall at Local Town Hall injury, and the defendant Housing Authority
Stricken for Governmental Immunity had no ability to address a dripping gutter in
the area where plaintiff fell. The court there-
CASE: Stavola v. Town of Newington fore granted summary judgment in favor of
COURT: New Britain J.D. the defendant Housing Authority.
DOC. NO.: CV-20-6061946
COURT OPINION BY: Farley
DATE: May 03, 2021 • PAGES: 10 U.S. COURT OF APPEALS
Plaintiff arrived at the defendant’s Town Hall
to do monthly work for the food pantry, how-
ever upon arrival found the front entrance to BANKRUPTCY
be under construction. She was directed by a
construction worker to a rear entrance, which Discrepancy in Quarterly Fees in
she was unfamiliar with. Upon entering, plain-
tiff attempted to navigate a dark hallway and Different Districts Unconstitutional
she tripped and sustained an injury. Plaintiff CASE: In re: Clinton Nurseries, Inc.
brought a negligence claim and a nuisance COURT: U.S. Court of Appeals for Second Circuit
claim against defendant Town, and the Town DOC. NO.: 20-1209-bk
moved to strike the claims based on the doc- COURT OPINION BY: Nardini
trine of governmental immunity. Defendant DATE: May 24, 2021 • PAGES: 33
also moved to strike for failure to identify the Plaintiffs appealed from an order of the Bank-
Town made a positive act. The court found the ruptcy Court. In that case, plaintiffs had chal-
plaintiffs’ claims all arose out of discretionary lenged the constitutionality of quarterly fees
acts of the Town. The court granted the mo- imposed while their bankruptcy proceeding
tions to strike based on governmental immu- was pending. Congress had passed an amend-
nity. The court also found the plaintiff failed ment to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code in 2017,
to allege a positive act by the Town to create increasing fees in certain judicial districts
a nuisance. termed “UST” districts—those where the
United States Trustee program oversees bank-
PERSONAL INJURY • REAL ESTATE ruptcy administration. Other districts—those
in so called “BA” districts where bankruptcy
Property Owner Not Liable in Slip and administrators oversee the administration—
Fall Case Where They Had No Control did not immediately increase the fees, though
Congress did make those fees equivalent in
or Responsibility 2020. Plaintiffs had filed for Chapter 11 bank-

CASE: Jocobsen v. The Somers Housing Auth., Inc. ruptcy in a “UST” district, the District of
COURT: Tolland J.D. Connecticut. They argued that their fees were
DOC. NO.: CV-18-6016216 higher than if they had filed in a “BA” district
COURT OPINION BY: Chaplin and this discrepancy violated the uniformity
DATE: May 10, 2021 • PAGES: 6 requirement of the Bankruptcy Clause. This
Plaintiff was injured when she slipped and fell is because the language of the Amendment
on an accumulation of ice outside the door said that UST district “shall” charge the fee
CONNECTICUT
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