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32 ¦ DECEMBER 28, 2020 CONNECTICUT OPINIONS

city moved to strike, arguing that plaintiff’s claims CUTPA. The court cited precedent to state that
were barred by governmental immunity. Plaintiff a direct business relationship is not required for
contended the defendants breached a written direc- a claim of injury under CUTPA. Therefore, the
tive of the superintendent of schools mandating court denied defendant’s motion as to Count Four.
that the door be and remain locked, preventing ac- As to Count Five, the court found that the doctrine
cess to the school from the outside. The defendants of caveat emptor applied to plaintiff’s common law
countered that the written directive was discretion- action alleging private nuisance.
ary in nature. The defendants pointed to plaintiff’s
own description of the doorway as being “intended
for ingress and egress” from the school building. TRUSTS AND ESTATES

The defendants also argued that plaintiff failed to Court Found Most of Plaintiffs’ Claims
establish causation between the alleged breach of Were Barred by the Litigation Privilege
duty and her injuries because she did not allege she
entered the building from the outside. The court
denied the motion to strike. First, as to the alleged or Lack of Standing

breach of duty, the directive required that the door CASE: ProxySoft, LLC v. Russo
be locked indefinitely. The directive’s requirement COURT: Stamford/Norwalk J.D., Complex Litigation Docket
that the door “remain locked” left the defendants DOC. NO.: CV-18-6034808
with no discretion as to when and whether the door COURT OPINION BY: Ozalis
could be unlocked. And as to causation, plaintiff DATE: November 30, 2020 • PAGES: 27
sufficiently alleged causation by alleging that the
defendants breached the written directive. Further, Defendant Russo was appointed as executor of
plaintiff’s entry from outside could be inferred from Thomas Thornton’s estate. Thornton owned all
the fact that, in order to be injured as a result of the the stock in two business entities. Thornton’s will
breached directive, she must have come through the gave Russo powers as executor to continue oper-
door from the outside. Plaintiff’s theory of causa- ating these businesses. Plaintiffs, who were two
tion was supported by her allegations. The motion of Thornton’s children, alleged that Thornton’s
had to be denied. estate was valued at 20 million dollars. They sued
Russo, claiming that Russo squandered their fa-
ther’s estate through breaches of his fiduciary du-
ties to them with respect to the family businesses.
REAL ESTATE • ENVIRONMENTAL LAW The court found that plaintiffs lacked standing

Court Granted in Part Defendant’s for most of the counts alleged in their lawsuit,
stating that these counts did not allege fraud,
Motion to Strike bad faith, or gross negligence against Russo.
The court further found that plaintiffs’ claims
CASE: Kesl, LLC v. Gibbs Oil Co., LLP for breach of fiduciary duty and tortious inter-
COURT: Hartford J.D. at Hartford ference of contract were barred by the litigation
DOC. NO.: CV-17-6079718 privilege.
COURT OPINION BY: Taylor
DATE: December 01, 2020 • PAGES: 12
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
Plaintiff owned real property that defendant leased
to operate a gasoline dispensing business. Plaintiff
alleged that defendant caused petroleum contami- COMMISSION
nation to the property from underground storage
tanks, did so in its normal course of business, and
failed to fix the contamination. Defendant moved PUBLIC RECORDS
to strike Counts Four and Five of plaintiff’s com-
plaint. The court denied the motion as to Count
Four and granted the motion as to Count Five. As Commissioner Finds Training Records
to Count Four, defendant claimed that plaintiff Not Exempt from Disclosure
failed to state a cause of action under the Connecti-
cut Unfair Trade Practices Act. Defendant argued CASE: Dionne v. Comm’r, Dep’t of Emergency Serv. &
Pub. Prot.
that it was a successor in interest to a landlord that COURT: Freedom of Information Commission
previously leased property to defendant and there- DOC. NO.: #FIC 2019-0396
fore its relationship with plaintiff was too attenu- COURT OPINION BY: Freedom of Information Commission
ated to constitute a trade relationship sufficient for DATE: December 09, 2020 • PAGES: 8

CONNECTICUT
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