Opinion ID: 2441662
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: seventh count: fraudulent misrepresentation

Text: The trial court struck the seventh count of the complaint, which alleged fraudulent misrepresentation by the defendant, because the plaintiffs failed to allege facts sufficient to pierce the corporate veil. The trial court additionally determined, however, that the plaintiffs had failed to plead a required element for a claim of fraudulent misrepresentation, namely, that the defendant knew that his representation was false at the time that he made it. The plaintiffs contend that the trial court improperly struck this count because they explicitly had stated or implicitly alleged the required elements. The defendant responds that the trial court properly determined that the plaintiffs had failed to allege each required element of fraudulent misrepresentation. We agree with the defendant. The essential elements of an action in common law fraud, as we have repeatedly held, are that: (1) a false representation was made as a statement of fact; (2) it was untrue and known to be untrue by the party making it; (3) it was made to induce the other party to act upon it; and (4) the other party did so act upon that false representation to his injury.... Under a fraud claim of this type, the party to whom the false representation was made claims to have relied on that representation and to have suffered harm as a result of the reliance. (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Suffield Development Associates Ltd. Partnership v. National Loan Investors, L.P., 260 Conn. 766, 777-78, 802 A.2d 44 (2002). In contrast to a negligent representation, [a] fraudulent representation ... is one that is knowingly untrue, or made without belief in its truth, or recklessly made and for the purpose of inducing action upon it. (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Kramer v. Petisi, 285 Conn. 674, 684 n. 9, 940 A.2d 800 (2008). This is so because fraudulent misrepresentation is an intentional tort. Id., at 684, 940 A.2d 800. The plaintiffs allege in the seventh count that the defendant made false statements to them and that they relied upon these statements to their detriment. More specifically, the plaintiffs allege that the defendant fraudulently represented that the house could be built according to the plans and that the defendant had caused Harb Development to build the house according to those plans. It can be inferred that these statements were made to ensure that the plaintiffs would believe that the construction contract had been fulfilled, causing the plaintiffs to accept possession of the house. As a result of these statements, the plaintiffs allege that they incurred damages. The plaintiffs therefore pleaded the first, third and fourth elements of a fraudulent misrepresentation cause of action. The plaintiffs failed to allege, however, that the defendant knew that his representations were untrue when he made them. Nowhere in the seventh count do the plaintiffs allege that the defendant made statements that were knowingly untrue. Because knowledge of falsity is an essential element of a cause of action for fraudulent misrepresentation, and the plaintiffs failed to allege this required element, we conclude that the trial court properly struck the seventh count of the complaint.