Court Opinion

ID: 9532433
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:21:18.952463+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:45.834545
License: Public Domain

Sidor, J.
(dissenting). I realize that the parties have a constitutional right to try the issues to a jury. This court has said on numerous occasions that we review the action of the trial court in setting aside the verdict to determine whether it involved an abuse of discretion, we do not examine the verdict itself. Scarcello v. Greenwich, 127 Conn. 464, 468, 17 A.2d 523; Cables v. Bristol Water Co., 86 Conn. 223, 224, 84 A. 928; Maltbie, Conn. App. Proc. § 196.
We have noted that the trial judge has the same opportunity to view the trial scene as the jury. For this reason, the court has always reiterated that great weight is due the action of the trial court. Yet here the majority finds a manifest abuse of discretion, notwithstanding: (1) a plea of guilty to a violation of a statute, which we say is negligence per se; (2) an admission against interest on the motor vehicle report; and (3) testimony of the *421defendant that he knew the effect of what he was doing when he pleaded guilty and when he signed his motor vehicle report. Since the action of the trial court involves the exercise of a broad legal discretion, it will not be disturbed unless that discretion has clearly been abused. Brower v. Perkins, 135 Conn. 675, 681, 68 A.2d 146.
The evidence of negligence is not contradicted. The majority says that the jury still could have decided that the defendant’s negligence was not the proximate cause of the plaintiff’s injuries. It seems to me that this reasoning overlooks the legislative policy and the purpose behind the passage of General Statutes § 14-240. The statute provides: “(a) No driver of a motor vehicle shall follow another vehicle more closely than is reasonable and prudent, having regard for the speed of such vehicles, the traffic upon and the condition of the highway and weather conditions. ...” (Emphasis added.) The legislature has placed a burden of being reasonable and prudent on the following car.
I cannot conclude that the trial judge manifestly abused his discretion under the circumstances of this case.