Court Opinion

ID: 9711647
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:36:00.77223+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:06.511750
License: Public Domain

Loiselle, J.
(dissenting). I cannot agree with the majority opinion. The record contains no finding to determine the reason for the court’s denial of the defendants’ motions to set aside the verdict and to complete the record. A memorandum of decision is in the record. Where there is no finding, we must “consult the memorandum of decision to ascertain the conclusions on which the trial court based its judgment.” Goldberg v. Zoning Commission, 173 Conn. 23, 25, 376 A.2d 385 (1977); Anonymous v. Norton, 168 Conn. 421, 423, 362 A.2d 532 (1975). Even where a finding is ambiguous, the court must resort to the memorandum of decision. Bridgeport Pipe Engineering Co. v. DeMatteo Construction Co., 159 Conn. 242, 247, 268 A.2d 391 (1970); Kriedel v. Krampitz, 137 Conn. 532, 535, 79 A.2d 181 (1951).
The plaintiff filed a motion to set aside the $25,000 verdict as inadequate. In its memorandum of decision, the court said: “In considering a motion to set aside a verdict the .court must ‘decide whether, on the evidence presented, the jury could fairly reach the conclusion they did. Giambartolomei v. Rocky DeCarlo & Sons, Inc., 143 Conn. 468, 474, 123 A.2d 760. The credibility of witnesses and the weight to be accorded to their testimony lie within the province of the jury. [The court] cannot retry the case. Henry v. Bacon, 143 Conn. 648, 651, 124 A.2d *275913. The jury had a right to accept part of the testimony and to disregard the remainder. Desmarais v. Pinto, 147 Conn. 109, 111, 157 A.2d 596.’ Rood v. Russo, 161 Conn. 1, 3 [283 A.2d 220] (1971). Based on an examination of the testimony and exhibits, under all of the circumstances evident here, the court concludes that the sums awarded constitute a fair conclusion on the part of the jury and the motions to set aside the verdict are, therefore, denied.”
The court’s determination that the verdict was reasonable and not inadequate under the circumstances of this particular case is definite and unequivocal. I do not understand that portion of the majority opinion which states that it is apparent that the trial court refused to deduct from the verdict any portion of the payment for the covenant on the ground that the combination of the two amounts was not excessive. The court found that the $25,000 verdict was reasonable and that the other defendant had already paid $40,000. I cannot subscribe to the proposition that a court has the discretion to add to a verdict which it has found to be reasonable so long as that addition does not make the total award excessive.
If the memorandum of decision is not consulted, the court’s reasoning is based on a judgment of $25,000 awarded by a jury and a payment under a covenant of $40,000 in a death action concerning a seventeen-year-old male. I cannot agree that a $25,000 verdict is inadequate as a matter of law regardless of the circumstances and the evidence produced. See Fabrizio v. Smith, 164 Conn. 385, 386, 321 A.2d 467 (1973)1
*276General Statutes § 52-216a states that where a covenant not to sue has been given by a plaintiff, such agreement shall not be revealed to the jury. The jury must determine the full value of the case without knowledge of the agreement. The court “may” then deduct from the verdict any amount received under the agreement. I interpret the discretion given the court by the statute as similar to the discretion exercised by the court when either an additur or a remittitur is made. This discretion is a legal discretion and must not be abused. Fronczek v. Bella Bitta-Bassola, Inc., 165 Conn. 102, 103, 328 A.2d 680 (1973); see also General Statutes § 52-228.
It is a well-established rule of law that a plaintiff is entitled to full satisfaction for his damages and no more. Amounts received by the plaintiff from one defendant on account of the injury inure to the benefit of all defendants. Dwy v. Connecticut, 89 Conn. 74, 95, 92 A. 883 (1915). There is no legislative history of any consequence regarding the enactment of § 52-216a. I just cannot believe that the legislature intended to overthrow this time-honored principle, without comment, by inserting the word “may” in a statute and giving the court unbridled discretion to make an additur under these circumstances.
I cannot agree that a $40,000 settlement in a death case of a seventeen-year-old male is inadequate as a matter of law regardless of the evidence produced.

 Under the circumstances of this case, $40,000 is the amount which would have been found to be inadequate as a matter of law.