Opinion ID: 2050213
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: did the trial court err in allowing an amenment to add allegations of defects in the product?

Text: As previously stated, the accident occurred on October 2, 1967. Original counsel brought suit on September 30, 1968. On August 6, 1974, the plaintiffs filed a motion to amend their substitute complaint to allege that the defendant permitted certain defects to remain in the furnace system. The amendment was allowed by the trial court. In this appeal the defendant claims that the trial court erred in allowing such an amendment more than seven years after the accident occurred. The defendant makes no claim that the amendment resulted in a delay or surprise. The trial took place in December, 1976. In the intervening two and one-third years from the date of the amendment, the defendant conducted a number of experiments and tests on various parts of the furnace system. In view of the fact that the court has broad discretion on the allowing of amendments, we must examine the pleadings to determine whether the amendment injected a completely new cause of action. An examination of the third count of the original complaint reveals the following paragraphs: 5. Said purported safety unit was sold to plaintiff Josephine Giglio in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to plaintiff Josephine Giglio and reach [sic] the plaintiff Josephine Giglio without substantial change in condition in which it was sold. 6. On or about October 7, 1967, as a result of the continuing tortuous [sic] conduct of defendant The Connecticut Light & Power Company, gas in said furnace exploded and shot flames on the plaintiff Josephine Giglio and caused her the hereinafter stated severe burns and injuries. 7. The tortuous [sic] conduct of defendant The Connecticut Light & Power Company continued from the time of said sale of the purported safety unit until October 7, 1967 because the defendant The Connecticut Light & Power Company continually permitted said purported safety unit to be available for use although they knew or should have known that said purported safety unit was defective and inherently dangerous and a continuing source of unreasonable risk of injury to plaintiff Josephine Giglio and they failed to indicate and warn plaintiff Josephine Giglio by label or otherwise of the dangers she was exposed to. In Gallo v. G. Fox & Co., 148 Conn. 327, 330, 170 A.2d 724, we stated: A cause of action is that single group of facts which is claimed to have brought about an unlawful injury to the plaintiff and which entitles the plaintiff to relief. Bridgeport Hydraulic Co. v. Pearson, 139 Conn. 186, 197, 91 A.2d 778; Veits v. Hartford, 134 Conn. 428, 434, 58 A.2d 389. `A right of action at law arises from the existence of a primary right in the plaintiff, and an invasion of that right by some delict on the part of the defendant. The facts which establish the existence of that right and that delict constitute the cause of action.' Pavelka v. St. Albert Society, 82 Conn. 146, 147, 72 A. 725.... It is proper to amplify or expand what has already been alleged in support of a cause of action, provided the identity of the cause of action remains substantially the same. As to relation back of amendments, we said in Keenan v. Yale New Haven Hospital, 167 Conn. 284, 285, 355 A.2d 253, that [a]mendments relate back to the date of the complaint unless they allege a new cause of action. This doctrine is akin to rule 15 (c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides in pertinent part: (c) RELATION BACK OF AMENDMENTS. Whenever the claim or defense asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment relates back to the date of the original pleading. Pursuant to this rule the court in Hockett v. American Airlines, Inc., 357 F. Sup. 1343 (N.D. Ill. 1973), found that an amendment to add a spouse to allege a claim for loss of consortium related back. That court summarized (pp. 1347-48) the law as follows: Rule 15 (c) is based upon the concept that a party who is notified of litigation concerning a given transaction or occurrence has been given all the notice that statutes of limitation are intended to afford, 3 Moore's Federal Practice para. 15.15 [3]. The objective of state statutes of limitations, to protect persons from the necessity of defending stale claims, is served under Rule 15 (c), since the amendment will not relate back unless the original pleading has given fair notice to the adverse party that a claim is being asserted against him from some particular transaction or occurrence, Wright, Law of Federal Courts, p. 276 (2d ed. 1970). In reviewing the pertinent law and the allegations of the original complaint, we find in the instant case that the court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the amendment specifying defects in the furnace equipment.