MOTOR VEHICLE LAW: Superior Court Judge finds in favor of defendant where Court found the plaintiff failed to establish negligence

After a bench trial the judge found for the defendant, ruling that the plaintiff failed to establish that the defendant was negligent in any of the way alleged in the complaint.  The court found “apparently the plaintiff anticipated, incorrectly, that the defendant would act negligently and overreacted to his inaccurate perception of impending negligent conduct by the defendant and a resulting collision, neither of which in fact occurred.”

The facts established at trial showed the defendant was backing down his driveway and stopped at the end of the driveway past a bush to be able to adequately see the traffic coming and the plaintiff anticipating the defendant would continue to back into traffic slammed on the breaks and dumped his moped to avoid a possible collision.  The evidence further showed the defendant was still in his driveway and stopped to ask the plaintiff is he was alright.

The plaintiff’s complaint claimed the defendant was negligent in failing to maintain proper control of his vehicle, was inattentive to his surroundings, and failed to grant the right of way to vehicles in the roadway.  The court found the evidence showed the defendant acted as a reasonable and prudent driver.

Christopher Coleman v. Christopher Gillis, Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, Docket No. CV18-6086869 (Scholl, J. July 29, 2019)