Argued
February 7, 2019
Action
to recover damages for personal injuries sustained as a
result of, inter alia, the defendants' alleged
negligence, and for other relief, brought to the Superior
Court in the judicial district of New London, where the
court, Vacchelli, J., granted in part the plaintiff's
motion for sanctions; thereafter, the matter was tried to the
jury; verdict for the defendants; subsequently, the court
denied the plaintiff's motion to set aside the verdict
and rendered judgment in accordance with the verdict, from
which the plaintiff appealed. Affirmed.
Kelly
E. Reardon, for the appellant (plaintiff).
Sarah
B. Christie, with whom, on the brief, was Sarah Tischbein
Bold, for the appellee (defendant Something Natural, LLC).
Jay F.
Huntington, with whom, on the brief, was Kelly R. Wall, for
the appellees (named defendant et al.).
OPINION
BRIGHT, J.
The
plaintiff, De Ann Maurice, appeals from the judgment of the
trial court, rendered in favor of the defendants, Chester
Housing Associates Limited Partnership, MJKH Property
Services, LLC, and Something Natural, LLC, following a jury
trial. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court abused
its discretion (1) when it did not allow the plaintiff's
expert witness to testify as an expert in snow removal, and
(2) when, in granting the plaintiff's motion for
sanctions, it denied the plaintiff's request that the
court render a default judgment as a sanction against Chester
Housing Associates Limited Partnership as a penalty for the
egregious misconduct of its general and managing partner,
Douglas H. Williams.[1] We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The
following facts and procedural history inform our review. The
plaintiff filed a second amended complaint alleging separate
counts of negligence and private nuisance against each of the
three defendants. In her complaint, she alleged that she
lived at the Cherry Hill Apartments in the town of Chester
(property), which was owned, operated, managed, controlled,
and/or maintained by the defendant Chester Housing Associates
Limited Partnership (property owner). The plaintiff also
alleged that the defendant MJKH Property Services, LLC
(property manager), owned, operated, managed, controlled,
and/or maintained the property. Further, she alleged that,
during times of inclement weather, the defendant Something
Natural, LLC (snow removal company), was responsible for the
snow and/or ice plowing, removal, clearing, and maintenance
of the property, including all walkways, parking areas,
common areas, and/or sidewalks.
The
plaintiff further alleged that on December 12, 2013, as she
walked from her apartment to her vehicle, which was in the
parking lot of the property, she slipped and fell on a patch
of snow and/or ice, and suffered injuries and an increased
risk of future harm. The plaintiff claimed her injuries were
caused by the negligence and the private nuisance caused or
created by each of the defendants. Following a trial, the
jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendants. The
plaintiff, thereafter, filed a motion to set aside the
verdict, which the court denied. The court, subsequently
rendered judgment in accordance with the jury's verdict.
This appeal followed. Additional facts and procedural history
will be set forth as necessary.
I
The
plaintiff first claims that the court abused its discretion
when it did not allow the plaintiff's expert witness,
Mark Tebbets, to testify as an expert in the field of snow
removal. She argues that she established, during voirdire,
that Tebbets ‘‘had engaged in commercial and
residential snow removal, including removing snow from
apartment complexes . . . [and that] his qualifications were
sufficient to render him an expert in the field of snow
removal . . . .'' She further contends that
‘‘the court's decision to preclude
[Tebbets'] testimony about snow removal, but allow his
testimony regarding building codes, was clearly harmful to
the plaintiff . . . .'' We are not persuaded.
The
following additional facts are relevant to this claim. The
plaintiff disclosed Tebbets as an expert in the fields of
‘‘building codes, fire codes, [Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)] accessibility, fall prevention, and
safe snow removal.'' Tebbets' resume reveals that
he has a Bachelor of Science degree in education, with a
focus on ‘‘industrial arts, mechanical,
electrical, carpentry and architectural drafting.''
He also attended a mechanical engineering program at Thames
Valley State Technical College. Tebbets has additional
training listed on his resume as follows: International Code
Council's master code professional certification since
1998; Connecticut certified building official; Massachusetts
building commissioner; property maintenance and housing
inspector; certified zoning official of the Connecticut
Association of Zoning Enforcement Officials; Occupational
Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Environmental
Protection Agency regulations; Connecticut Building Officials
and Code Administrators building code updates; and ADA
mandates regarding asbestos and lead abatement. Tebbets'
resume also lists his extensive professional experience in:
building code consulting and building, safety, and fire code
compliance; ADA consulting and compliance; building energy
code policies; the drafting of model legislation in support
of stronger energy codes; teaching professional development
seminars and classes regarding building code and inspection;
and enforcement of OSHA regulations.
After
the plaintiff called Tebbets to the witness stand, Tebbets
discussed his extensive education and experience with codes
and ordinances. He then testified about his experience with
snow removal. Tebbets testified that he
‘‘shoveled snow for [his] mom and dad . . . [and]
worked at a marina where . . . [he] plowed there. Eventually,
[he] worked for different . . . contractors, [where] in the
middle of winter, there's not a whole lot to do except
come out in a snowstorm and shovel snow or plow.'' He
testified: ‘‘If you look around, in the old days,
every carpenter had a plow on the front of his truck, so I
learned to plow when I was still in high school . . .
.'' He also stated that he had a multi-family
dwelling that he owned and plowed and that his relatives
owned a trailer park where he plowed, thereby
‘‘bec[oming] familiar with it just because it was
the off season and it was the thing you did.'' The
plaintiff, thereafter, offered him as an expert on
‘‘snow removal and codes and
ordinances.''[2] The defendants objected to his testifying
as a snow removal expert on the ground that Tebbets had not
set forth any expertise on the issue of snow removal. The
court stated that, up to that point, it had not heard
anything that would rise to the level of expertise in snow
removal, but permitted the plaintiff to engage in additional
questioning.
The
plaintiff then asked Tebbets more questions about his snow
removal background. Tebbets explained that he was involved
with snow removal for the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation
where, although it had a public works department that did the
actual snow removal, he, as the chief land use inspector,
‘‘had to do all the difficult things like figure
out where things were supposed to go.'' He also
testified that he ‘‘was involved with making sure
that the lots, the walks- especially sidewalks with the
people walking around- were cleared and properly
draining.'' He testified that he was involved in snow
removal while he worked in the construction industry, but he
‘‘got tired of using a shovel, so [he] kind of
moved more [toward] the technical supervisor roles at that
point, '' and he had begun supervising others who
were removing snow and plowing. Further, he ...