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32 ¦ JULY 6, 2020 CONNECTICUT OPINIONS

approval. Defendant objected, arguing that de- DISCOVERY • PRODUCTS LIABILITY
fendant contracted to sell the property at fair
market value, and that there was insufficient Parties’ Requests for Protective Order
advertising of the sale to attract the highest Granted
possible bid. The court approved the deed, not-
ing that the sales price was substantially great-
er than the fair market value of the property. CASE: Guardiola v. Kia Motors Am., Inc.
COURT: Fairfield J.D. at Bridgeport
Defendant’s subsequent motions to open and DOC. NO.: CV18-6073786
vacate the judgment were denied. When other COURT OPINION BY: Arnold
avenues for relief were similarly unavailing, de- DATE: June 10, 2020 • PAGES: 14
fendant moved for order by way of writ of au- The court granted plaintiff ’s motion for a
dita querela. The court dismissed the motion, protective order to ensure the confidentiality
finding that title had passed to plaintiff, and of defendants’ proprietary information, and
the judgment in favor of plaintiff had been up- drafted such order itself. Plaintiff purchased
held on appeal. Defendant was thus divested a 2013 Kia Sorrento from defendants. Plain-
of title and without standing to seek any relief tiff was driving the car when the engine alleg-
with regard to the subject property. The court edly suddenly shut down, causing the car to
accordingly lacked subject matter jurisdiction. lose power and careen into an overpass abut-
ment. Plaintiff alleged suffered serious and
permanent injury. She sued defendants for her
CRIMINAL LAW injuries. She delivered to defendants interrog-

Evidence Sufficient to Support Criminal atories and requests for production, seeking
Charge of Offering to Make Home information and documents concerning the
design and safety testing of the subject motor
vehicle, the alleged defect at issue, and reports
Improvements Without Valid License and complaints alleging similar defects. Defen-

CASE: State of Connecticut v. Magee dants filed objections to plaintiff ’s requests,
COURT: G.A. #23 at New Haven
DOC. NO.: CR18-0188798 asserting that a protective order was appropri-
COURT OPINION BY: Cradle ate to prevent the dissemination of documents
DATE: May 27, 2020 • PAGES: 11 and materials containing trade secrets or other
commercial information. Plaintiff moved for
The court denied defendant’s motion to dis- entry of a protective order, which she draft-
miss, finding the evidence sufficient to sup- ed and submitted to the court. Defendants
port the criminal charge against him. Defen- objected, and submitted their own draft of
dant was charged with offering to make home a proposed protective order. After reviewing
improvements without a current certificate of both parties’ proposals, the court fashioned its
registration, in violation of G.S. §20-427(b)(5). own protective order, along with consent and
According to the charges against him, defen- waiver forms. The order directed the parties as
dant entered into a construction contract as to how to designate materials as confidential,
representative of a company called Truesource and as to how to handle such materials so as to
LLC. Neither defendant nor Truesource had a prevent their inappropriate disclosure.
current certificate of registration. Defendant
moved to dismiss the charge against him, ar-
guing that he entered into the contract as the EMPLOYMENT LITIGATION

owner of both Truesource, his new company, Plaintiff Entitled to Damages for
which did not yet have a valid contractor’s li-
censes, and Pro Source, LLC, his old compa- Defendant’s Breach of Employment
ny, which did have a valid contractor’s license. Contracts
The court denied defendant’s motion to dis-
miss, finding that the evidence failed to sup-
port defendant’s claims. Although Pro Source CASE: Paniccia v. Success Vill. Apartments, Inc.
COURT: Fairfield J.D. at Bridgeport
was indeed licensed, it was in no way involved DOC. NO.: CV16-5031432
with the construction contract at issue. Defen- COURT OPINION BY: Jacobs
dant signed the contract for the job on behalf DATE: June 16, 2020 • PAGES: 7
of Truesource, and all payments were made to The court rendered judgment in favor of plain-
Truesource. tiff on his complaint for unpaid wages, finding

CONNECTICUT
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