Barr v. MFI Management, Inc.

Citations

• 235 Conn. App. 1

Syllabus

In two separate actions that were consolidated for trial, which involved allegations of fraud in connection with private investments, B, the plaintiff in the first action and the named defendant in the second action, and M, a defendant in the second action, appealed from the trial court's judgments for the named defendant et al. in the first action and F Co., the plaintiff in the second action. After the actions had been consolidated, the parties represented to the trial court in several joint case management proposals that the actions would be tried to a jury and filed jury claims in the separate actions they brought. F Co. thereafter filed motions to erase both of the consolidated actions from the jury docket, arguing, inter alia, that B's jury claim was untimely under the applicable statute (§ 52-215). The trial court granted F Co.'s motions to erase, reasoning that the jury claims in both actions were untimely, that the parties had not provided written consent to a jury trial under § 52-215, and that a jury claim could be withdrawn at any time in the absence of prejudice to the opposing party. B and M claimed that the trial court improperly removed the actions from the jury docket and proceeded with a bench trial. Held: This court reversed the judgments of the trial court and remanded the actions for a jury trial, as § 52-215 permits a case to be entered at any time on the jury docket upon the parties' written consent, and the trial court, in granting F Co.'s motions to erase, improperly focused on the timing of the parties' jury claims, which was not pertinent to whether they provided written consent by virtue of their jury claims. This court determined that B's filing of a jury claim in the action he brought, along with the F Co.'s filing of a certificate of closed pleadings in that action, which also indicated that the matter would be tried to a jury, constituted written consent by both parties to enter the consolidated actions on the jury docket in accordanc