Supreme Court of Connecticut

The court dismissed the certified appeal as moot because legislation cancelled the plaintiff's applications, diverted the program's remaining funds, and repealed the governing program, leaving no practical relief available through mandamus.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed the trial court's judgment sustaining Lasa Extract's administrative appeal and holding that the cultivation and processing of cannabis at its Suffield facility was a lawful continuation of the property's existing legal nonconforming use (historically tobacco processing, later…

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed the Appellate Court's judgment upholding the denial of the defendant's motion for sentence modification to time served under General Statutes § 53a-39(a), holding that a trial court does not abuse its discretion in considering the Board of Pardons and Paroles' prior denials of…

The Supreme Court of Connecticut reversed the defendant's murder conviction and ordered a new trial because the trial court abused its discretion in denying his request for a Porter hearing on the reliability of primer gunshot residue (pGSR) evidence, resting its denial solely on the methodology's well-established…

The court held that a municipal tax assessor satisfies the statutory requirement to provide a rental-income information form by mailing it to the property owner's last known address, even if the owner does not actually receive it.

The court held that favorable treatment given to a cooperating witness, without more, does not establish an underlying promise of leniency, but clarified that the duty to correct misleading testimony extends to implied, unwritten, or tacit cooperation agreements.

The Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed a second judgment of strict foreclosure, holding that the doctrine of res judicata barred the defendants Underwood Towers Limited Partnership and CDC Management Corporation from relitigating their claim that the substitute plaintiff lacked standing to foreclose, because that…

The Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the habeas court's judgment ordering a new criminal trial for the petitioner, who claimed his trial counsel rendered ineffective assistance by failing to challenge the state's cell site location information (CSLI) evidence, particularly a GeoTime time-lapse video depicting his…

In a per curiam order spanning two dockets, the Supreme Court of Connecticut imposed sanctions on Attorney Ian G. Gottlieb and his firm, GLG Law, LLC, for filing public interest appeal applications and briefs containing approximately seven hallucinated—fabricated or inaccurately generated—citations introduced when…

The Connecticut Supreme Court held that the trial court incorrectly struck all of counts two through six of the plaintiff's wrongful death complaint as medical malpractice: certain allegations—failure to control the patient, failure to warn the identifiable victim, and premature discharge when the fifteen-day…

The Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed the defendant's convictions for third-degree sexual assault and third-degree assault of an elderly person, holding that the trial court abused its discretion in giving a consciousness of guilt instruction built on the defendant's equivocal statements to his employer — an…

The Connecticut Supreme Court affirmed Antoine Keaton's convictions for murder and criminal possession of a firearm. It held that his confrontation clause challenge to a computer-synchronized compilation of street-camera footage failed under State v.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed the Superior Court's dismissal of the plaintiffs' administrative appeal challenging a zoning permit authorizing interior renovations to Grace Farms Foundation's operations center in New Canaan.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed a judgment reinstating the forest land classification of the plaintiffs' 22.53-acre Mansfield property, holding that the town assessor lacked statutory authority to terminate the classification even though the property never met the twenty-five acre minimum because the…

The court held that the trial court improperly allowed the child's adoption to proceed before resolving the foster parents' timely motion to open the appointment of the commissioner as statutory parent.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that the trial court committed plain error by omitting the no adverse inference instruction required by General Statutes § 54-84 (b) from its final jury instructions, even though the instruction had been given to the venire panels and in the preliminary instructions, because the…

The court held that the trial court did not abuse its discretion by denying the defense's midtrial request to present a previously undisclosed handwriting expert. The late request substantially departed from the defense's disclosure obligations, was not supported by good cause because the defense could have…

The court held that the trial court properly denied the state's motion to dismiss because the record left unresolved whether the plaintiffs were terminated in an economically motivated layoff or in retaliation for constitutionally protected union and political activity.

The court held that the plaintiff's fraud, tortious-interference, and conspiracy claims were ripe even though the debtor's bankruptcy proceedings were ongoing, because the plaintiff had already suffered an injury and uncertainty about the exact amount of damages did not defeat justiciability.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut accepted the defendant's invitation to reconsider its kidnapping jurisprudence and overruled the longstanding rule that a kidnapping conviction may rest on a restraint that is merely incidental to the commission of another crime, holding instead that kidnapping requires an intent to…

The court held that the trial court constitutionally erred by failing to instruct the jury on the statutory definition of attempt when felony murder was predicated on attempted robbery.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed the Appellate Court's judgment sustaining Michael Fauci's convictions for three first-degree robberies and three conspiracies. Applying the two-step prosecutorial-impropriety framework, the court held that the prosecutor's remarks treating self-incriminating statements as…

The court affirmed the defendant's convictions, holding that the cumulative direct and circumstantial evidence was sufficient to prove his participation in the robbery and conspiracy involving Mace.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed Russell Peeler's convictions for murder, two capital felonies, and conspiracy to commit murder, holding that the jury was properly instructed that it could convict on a capital felony under a Pinkerton conspiratorial-liability theory and that the errors in withholding the…

The court held that alarm-system defendants who negligently caused a false fire alarm owed no duty to firefighters injured when the responding fire engine crashed after its negligently maintained brakes failed.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut answered its certified question affirmatively, holding that school children attending public school during school hours are a narrowly defined, identifiable class of foreseeable victims, so the superintendent's allegedly negligent failure to ensure that an icy school courtyard was…

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed summary judgment for the Connecticut bar examining committee and its administrative director, holding that the committee's grading procedures—anonymous grading, calibrated model answers, score conversion, and automatic regrading of examinations within ten points of the passing…

The Supreme Court of Connecticut reversed a judgment of strict foreclosure and the rejection of the borrowers' counterclaims, holding that although the two second mortgage loans were not unconscionable, the lender violated the federal Truth in Lending Act by failing to disclose and include fees for recording a future…

The court adopted a totality-of-the-circumstances approach under article first, § 7, for assessing probable cause in warrant applications based on confidential informants, replacing the rigid two-pronged framework previously required by state precedent.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut reversed the dismissal of a medical malpractice complaint filed without the certificate of good faith belief of negligence required by General Statutes (Rev. to 1987) § 52-190a. It held that Public Acts 1987, No.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed summary judgment for the homeowner, holding that a contractor who fails to satisfy the Home Improvement Act's written contract requirement, General Statutes § 20-429, cannot recover in quasi contract—whether denominated quantum meruit or unjust enrichment—for the value of home…

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed a trial court judgment striking a contractor's two-count complaint seeking the unpaid balance for home improvements performed under an oral agreement.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that plaintiffs suing the commissioner of transportation under the highway defect statute, General Statutes § 13a-144, may invoke the accidental failure of suit statute, § 52-592, because the state, having waived sovereign immunity and consented to be sued, is subject to generally…

The Supreme Court of Connecticut upheld the trial court's jurisdiction over a class challenge by AFDC recipients to a 100-day-per-year limit on emergency housing benefits, rejecting objections based on housing-docket assignment, sovereign immunity, and failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed summary judgment for the commissioner of transportation, holding that an action under General Statutes § 13a-144 requires proof that the defective highway was the sole proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that the exclusive-remedy provision of the Workers' Compensation Act, General Statutes § 31-284 (a), does not bar an original defendant's third-party indemnity claim against the plaintiff decedent's employer where the third-party complaint alleges an independent legal…

The Supreme Court of Connecticut consolidated appeals by the Freedom of Information Commission and Susan Stone from a Superior Court judgment reversing the commission's order requiring New Haven to disclose attorney invoices listing only law-firm names and amounts billed for litigation over the East Shore waste-water…

The court held that both the physician and the medical society had standing to appeal the podiatry board's declaratory ruling concerning treatment of ankle problems. The physician sufficiently alleged a legally protected interest in practicing medicine and injury from allegedly unfair or illegal competition, while the…

The court upheld the summary judgment establishing the town’s entitlement to unpaid property taxes, interest, and lien fees, despite the town’s filing of its motion before the pleadings were formally closed.

The Supreme Court of Connecticut affirmed Christopher Leecan's felony-murder conviction, finding no error in the admission of evidence of his pre-arrest and post-arrest silence, a threatening letter, outstanding arrest warrants, and prior arrests, nor in the jury instructions.