DocketNumber: No. CV91 0120741S
Citation Numbers: 1994 Conn. Super. Ct. 12940
Judges: KARAZIN, J.
Filed Date: 12/15/1994
Status: Non-Precedential
Modified Date: 4/18/2021
On March 22, 1993, the defendant filed an answer and two special defenses on the grounds that it is immune from liability under the doctrine of governmental immunity and that if the plaintiff sustained any injuries, it was due to the plaintiff's own negligence.
On September 21, 1994, the plaintiff filed a request for leave to amend her revised complaint. On October 6, 1994, the defendant filed an objection to the plaintiff's request to amend and a memorandum of law. A memorandum of law in support of her request for leave to amend was also filed by the plaintiff. CT Page 12941
Specifically, the defendant objects to the plaintiff's proposed amendments to paragraphs 7a and 7b of the first count, and to the entire second count that the plaintiff seeks to add to the revised complaint. The defendant argues that the plaintiff is seeking to allege new causes of action predicated on failure to maintain the steps and nuisance. The defendant argues that allowing the amendments would be prejudicial because it has defended this action for three years based only on allegations of negligence due to defective conditions, and the plaintiff's claims are time-barred because they are new causes of action which "speak" as of the date that they are filed.
The plaintiff argues that the defendant will not suffer any prejudice due to the amendment of the revised complaint because the action is not scheduled for trial, minimal discovery has been conducted and the amendment will not cause any delay in the case. The plaintiff further argues that the added technical descriptions in the negligence count, and the addition of the nuisance count, do not constitute new sets of facts which are barred by the statute of limitations.
"`The trial court has wide discretion in granting or denying amendments,' and its determination will not be reversed absent an abuse of discretion." Web Press Services Corp. v. New LondonMotors, Inc.,
Furthermore, amendments to a complaint relate back to the date of the complaint, unless they allege a new and different cause of action, in which case the amendment speaks as of the date when it is filed. Keenan v. Yale New Haven Hospital,
A cause of action is that single group of facts which is claimed to have brought about an unlawful injury to the plaintiff and which entitles the plaintiff to relief. . . . A change in, or an addition to, a ground of negligence or an act of negligence arising out of the single group of facts which was originally claimed to have brought about the unlawful injury to the plaintiff does not change the cause of action. . . . It is proper to amplify or expand what has already been alleged in support of a cause of action, provided the identity of the cause of action remains substantially the same, but where an entirely new and different factual situation is presented, a new and different cause of action is stated.
(Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Sharp v.Mitchell,
The Connecticut Supreme Court has recognized that the relation back doctrine in Connecticut is "akin" to rule 15(c) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which provides in part that "[w]henever the claim . . . asserted in the amended pleading arose out of the conduct, transaction or occurrence set forth or attempted to be set forth in the original pleading, the amendment relates back to the date of the original pleading." Gurliacci v. Mayer,
The policy behind rule 15(c) is that a party, once notified of litigation based upon a particular transaction or occurrence, has been provided with all the notice that statutes of limitations are intended to afford. . . . Because rule 15 provides that an amendment relates back where the original complaint has given the party fair notice that a claim is being asserted stemming from a particular transaction or occurrence, the objectives of our statute of limitations, namely, to protect parties from having to defend against stale claims, is fully served.
(citations omitted.) Id., 547-48; see also Downey v. Bickford, Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford-New Britain at CT Page 12943 Hartford, Docket No. 372243 (July 7, 1994, Corradino, J.).
In Gurliacci, the plaintiff's amendment reiterated her negligence claim that was based upon the defendant's negligent operation of a motor vehicle, and added that the defendant was acting either willfully, wantonly, and maliciously or outside the scope of his employment. Gurliacci v. Mayer, supra,
The plaintiff's request for leave to amend her complaint is granted. The present action is not scheduled for trial and minimal discovery has been conducted by the parties, and, therefore, the granting of the plaintiff's request will not cause undue delay. See Web Press Services Corp. v. New London Motors, Inc., supra,
For the reasons stated herein, the plaintiff's request for leave to amend her complaint is granted.
KARAZIN, J.