Costanzo v. Plainfield

Citations

• 344 Conn. 86

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 52-572h (o)), there shall be no apportionment claims between a party liable for negligence and a party liable on any basis other than negligence, including ''liability pursuant to any cause of action created by statute, except that liability may be apportioned among par- ties liable for negligence in any cause of action created by statute based on negligence . . . .'' Pursuant further to statute (§ 52-557n (b)), ''a political subdivision of the state or any employee, officer or agent acting within the scope of his employment or official duties shall not be liable for damages to person 3 The parties agreed to waive oral argument and to have this appeal decided on the basis of the record and briefs. 344 Conn. 86 JULY, 2022 87 Costanzo v. Plainfield or property resulting from . . . (8) failure to make an inspection or making an inadequate or negligent inspection of any property . . . to determine whether the property complies with or violates any law or contains a hazard to health or safety, unless the political subdivision had notice of such a violation of law or such a hazard . . . .'' The named plaintiff, as the administratrix of her daughter's estate, sought to recover damages from the defendants, a town and two of its employ- ees, in connection with her daughter's drowning in a privately owned swimming pool. The plaintiff was a tenant of the property on which the incident occurred. The pool did not have a self-closing and self-latching gate or a pool alarm, both of which were required by the state building code. The plaintiff alleged, inter alia, that the defendants had issued a building permit for the pool prior to inspecting it to ensure that the mandated safety features were installed. The defendants thereafter filed a notice of intent to seek apportionment of liability against the owners of the property and an apportionment complaint against the former tenants of the property, who had the pool constructed. The plaintiff objected to the d