Cohen v. Postal Holdings, LLC

Citations

• 199 Conn. App. 312

Syllabus

The plaintiffs sought to recover damages from the defendant for private nuisance and negligence as a result of harm they allegedly suffered when the parties had been abutting property owners and the real prop- erty owned by the defendant allegedly had been in a dangerous condition that the defendant had failed to prevent or to abate. The defendant's predecessor lessors executed a ground lease of the property with U Co., a federal agency, and, subsequently, the defendant became the sole owner and sole lessor of the subject property. The trial court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment. On the plaintiffs' appeal to this court, held: 1. The trial court properly granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment as to the claim of negligence and determined that the defendant did not maintain control of the property and, thus, did not owe a duty of care to the plaintiffs: the ground lease, in clear and unambiguous terms, demised full control of the property to U Co. and divested any control of the property from the defendant; moreover, this court declined to consider whether the defendant exercised de facto control over the property, as the ground lease clearly and unambiguously provided that U Co. maintained control of the property. 2. The trial court properly granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment as to the plaintiffs' private nuisance claim; the ground lease demised full control of the property to U Co. and provided that U Co.'s responsibility for maintenance shall be fulfilled at such time and in such manner as U Co. considers necessary and provided the defendant no right to enter the property to perform maintenance or repairs or to demand that U Co. maintain the property and, thus, the defendant's inaction with regard to the condition of the property could not be characterized as causing a negligent or intentional interference with the plaintiffs' use and enjoyment of their property. Submitted on briefs April 22—officially released July