C. W. v. E. W.

Citations

• 226 Conn. App. 144

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendants for, inter alia, breach of contract and unjust enrichment in connection with an alleged oral agreement pursuant to which the defendants agreed to sell to the plaintiff certain residential property after he performed repairs to it. The plaintiff claimed that he expended substantial funds and personal labor with the understanding that the agreed upon purchase price would be in compensation for the labor and materials he supplied. The defen- dants filed an answer to the amended complaint, asserting that they did not agree to sell the property to the plaintiff. At trial, the court admitted into evidence an exhibit offered by the plaintiff that documented the tasks that the plaintiff claimed to have performed at the property and his hours worked. The plaintiff testified that he used a project management software program to create the table of tasks in the exhibit from data that he contemporaneously entered as he worked. The court found that, although there was no agreement to sell the property, the plaintiff had incurred certain costs for materials and labor to rehabilitate the property and rendered judgment for the plaintiff on his unjust enrichment claim. In awarding the plaintiff damages for his labor, the court found that the plaintiff's evidence of his labor was unreliable, specifically, his exhibit documenting the number of hours he had worked, and, instead, relied on E's valuation of the plaintiff's services. On the plaintiff's appeal to this court, held: 1. The plaintiff could not prevail on his claim that the trial court improperly rendered judgment for the defendants on his breach of contract claim because the court failed to consider judicial admissions allegedly made by the defendants in their original answers as to the existence of a contract: although the defendants' original answers asserted that they had agreed to sell the property for a reduced price because the plaintiff is the defendant E's so