Advance Release Opinions – January 11 – Part Two

The Connecticut Appellate Court advance released an opinion about personal injury law that I review below. The Court also released two opinions about criminal law that I do not review.

FYI, in prior posts, I said “which I review below.” I started to think it should be “that I review below.” Strunk and White seems to confirm it, so I changed it.

This is Part Two of the post for January 11 advance releases. Part One is the immediately preceding post that deals with a Supreme Court opinion released the same day.

Personal Injury

Pettiford v. State – State van hit UPS driver when he was crossing the street to deliver a package. UPS driver claimed that State owed him a heightened duty because he was in or very near an unmarked crosswalk. Trial court found, and Appellate Court agreed, that by statute an unmarked crosswalk exists only where a sidewalk meets an intersection. Since there was no sidewalk, there was no unmarked crosswalk. Appellate Court also found that, even if there was an unmarked crosswalk, the trial court made no finding that the UPS driver was in or very near it when he got hit and other findings suggested he wasn’t. Appellate Court reversed, but only because the trial court had dismissed the action when it should have entered judgment for State.