McGee v. 456 Sackett WDS Associates, LLC

Citations

• 234 Conn. App. 362

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment rendered after it granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on his complaint, which alleged that he fell and was injured when he stepped on a defective wooden floorboard at the defendants' property, which had been leased to a tenant. The plaintiff claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly deter- mined that no genuine issues of material fact existed as to whether the defendants were in possession or control of the area where the plaintiff allegedly was injured. Held: The trial court properly granted the defendants' motion for summary judg- ment, as there was no genuine issue of material fact that the plaintiff's alleged injury occurred in an area of the leased property over which the defendants did not have possession or control and which the tenant was responsible for maintaining and repairing. This court did not need to address the merits of the plaintiff's claim that the trial court improperly relied on evidence outside of the lease, as the clear and unambiguous language of the lease itself was sufficient to demon- strate that the defendants did not have possession or control of the area where the plaintiff allegedly was injured. The plaintiff's claim that the trial court improperly found facts and miscon- strued the lease in determining that the area where he allegedly fell was not part of the structure or foundation of the premises was unavailing, as the documents the plaintiff submitted in opposition to the defendants' motion for summary judgment did not relate directly to whether the defendants retained possession or control of the relevant area of the property and, thus, did not demonstrate the existence of a factual dispute concerning possession or control. Argued April 22—officially released August 12, 2025