Advance Release Opinions – May 4

Reviews of the Connecticut Appellate Court’s advance release opinions about divorce and personal injury.

Divorce

Murphy v. Murphy – Judgment says alimony terminates on cohabitation. Defendant cohabited with boyfriend. Trial court denied plaintiff’s motion to terminate alimony because there was no evidence under CGS § 46b-86(b) that boyfriend’s contributions to defendant’s support altered her financial needs. Appellate Court reversed, finding that the proper question is how much the cohabiting saved defendant financially, not how much the boyfriend was contributing. The evidence was that defendant’s move into boyfriend’s house cut her financial needs in half, regardless of boyfriend’s contributions to her support. That was all that was necessary to terminate alimony. The dissent asserts that the majority decision implicitly overturns precedent and is contrary to the legislative intent of § 46b-86(b).

Personal Injury

Micalizzi v. Stewart – Jury awarded economic damages, but not noneconomic damages. Trial court denied plaintiff’s motion to set aside the verdict or for additur. Appellate Court affirmed, finding: (1) Jury’s interrogatory response that defendant was a proximate cause of “the injuries sustained by the plaintiff” was not necessarily inconsistent with awarding zero noneconomic damages because the jury could have determined that plaintiff was injured, but failed to prove noneconomic damages; (2) Jury’s award of economic damages does not require, as a matter of law, an automatic award of noneconomic damages; (3) On this record, jury could reasonably have concluded that plaintiff’s noneconomic damages were not compensable; and (4) trial court did not create any procedural irregularity constituting an abuse of discretion.