DocketNumber: AC 21355
Citation Numbers: 66 Conn. App. 833
Filed Date: 11/13/2001
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 9/8/2022
Opinion
The plaintiffs, Michael Yorgensen and Monique Yorgensen, lessors of a rental unit of the defendant Brophy Ahem Development Company, brought this action to recover monetary damages arising from the failure of the defendants, the development company and its owners,
These cases make clear that the proper test to apply is whether the court's action causes unfair surprise or prejudice to the defendants. See id.; Criscuolo v. Mauro Motors, Inc., supra, 58 Conn. App. 547. This test is appropriate because, as this court has observed, “[t]he modem trend ... is to construe pleadings broadly and realistically, rather than narrowly and technically.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Lyons v. Nichols, 63 Conn. App. 761, 765, 778 A.2d 246, cert. denied, 258 Conn. 906, 782 A.2d 1244 (2001). The complaint should “fairly put the defendant on notice of the claims against him.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 764.
Applying these considerations to the present case, we cannot say that the court’s award in any way caused the defendants to suffer prejudice or surprise. The plaintiffs originally brought their complaint in small claims court. The allegations in that complaint fell squarely within § 47a-21 (d) (2) and formed the basis for the court’s award. Furthermore, the defendants alleged, in an affidavit filed with the court in support of their motion to transfer the case to the regular docket, that they acted “in accordance with Connecticut General
The judgment is affirmed.
The plaintiffs alleged that the defendant Brophy Ahem Development Company was owned by the defendants Lawrence Brophy and Kevin Ahem. They subsequently withdrew the action as against Ahem. We refer in this opinion to Brophy Ahem Development Company and Lawrence Brophy as the defendants.
General Statutes § 47a-21 (d) (2) provides in relevant part: “Any . . . landlord who violates any provision of this subsection shall be hable for twice the amount or value of any security deposit paid by such tenant. . . .”