Court Opinion

ID: 9729137
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:27:15.249513+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:55.576481
License: Public Domain

Baldwin, J.
(dissenting). I disagree. This case was pleaded and tried on the theory that the defendant was negligent in maintaining a defective floor of whose condition it had constructive notice. The trial court was correct in setting aside the verdict for the plaintiff because there was no evidence from which the jury could reasonably find notice. O’Brien v. H. L. Green Co., 128 Conn. 68, 69, 20 A.2d 411; Edwards v. F. W. Woolworth Co., 129 Conn. 245, *6027 A.2d 163; Hall v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co., 115 Conn. 698, 160 A. 302. When such a ruling is reviewed, great weight is due to the action of the trial court, and every reasonable presumption should be given in favor of its correctness. Dudas v. Ward Baking Co., 104 Conn. 516, 518, 133 A. 591; Roma v. Thames River Specialties Co., 90 Conn. 18, 20, 96 A. 169; Masi v. General Ice Cream Corporation, 120 Conn. 259, 262, 180 A. 455. The trial court followed the procedure which we have set forth frequently. It denied a motion for a directed verdict, and thereafter, the jury having returned a plaintiff’s verdict and the defendant having moved to set the verdict aside, it secured and reviewed a transcript of the evidence and filed a lengthy memorandum stating its reasons for setting aside the verdict. In this memorandum, it said: “[T]he jury either failed to comprehend the court’s instructions, or mistakenly applied the legal principles, or disregarded the instructions, or . . . were swayed by sympathy for the plaintiff, or . . . because of a combination of these reasons . . . returned a liberal verdict in the plaintiff’s favor.” Under the rule herein stated, the court’s action in setting aside the verdict should have been sustained. Under the rule stated in Robinson v. Southern New England Telephone Co., 140 Conn. 414, 421, 101 A.2d 616, judgment notwithstanding the verdict was properly rendered.