DiSpazio v. Pacapelli

Citations

• 231 Conn. App. 589

Syllabus

The plaintiffs appealed from the trial court's judgment for the defendants, rendered following its granting of the defendants' motion for summary judgment, and from the trial court's order granting the defendants' motion for sanctions pursuant to the rule of practice (§ 1-25). The plaintiffs claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly concluded that a release of liability that they had executed in connection with prior litigation precluded the present action. Held: The trial court appropriately rendered summary judgment for the defendants because it properly determined that there were no genuine issues of material fact and that the release barred the plaintiffs' claims against the defendants as a matter of law, as the claims were inchoate claims that were contemplated at the time of the release, although they may not have manifested themselves at that time. The trial court's award of attorney's fees to the defendants as a sanction pursuant to Practice Book § 1-25 was not improper because the plaintiffs' claims were without a basis in law and fact, as they were barred under the clear and unambiguous terms of the release, and the award, made pursuant to § 1-25, did not require the court to find that the plaintiffs had acted in bad faith. Argued January 8—officially released March 25, 2025