Piccolo v. American Auto Sales, LLC

Citations

• 195 Conn. App. 486

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to recover damages arising out of a dispute over his purchase of a motor vehicle from the defendant A Co. The plaintiff's revised complaint alleged fraud, negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract, and unjust enrichment, and claimed that the vehicle was not in good condition when he purchased it and that the defendants had failed to make certain promised repairs. The defendants filed a motion to strike several counts of the complaint, including counts four and eight, which alleged unjust enrichment. The defendants claimed that because paragraph 5 of count one, which sounded in fraud, alleged that the plaintiff had relied on the defendants' representations, both oral and written, that the motor vehicle was in sound condition, and because paragraph 5 was incorporated by reference into counts four and eight, the plaintiff had alleged that there was an oral and written contract that was breached and, therefore, could not properly allege unjust enrich- ment. The trial court granted the motion to strike as to counts four and eight, and the remaining counts were tried to the jury, which found in favor of the defendants. From the judgment rendered thereon, the plain- tiff appealed to this court. Held that the trial court improperly granted the defendants' motion to strike the unjust enrichment counts of the revised complaint, as the court mistakenly concluded that the plaintiff had incorporated allegations of breach of an express contract in the unjust enrichment counts: parties routinely plead alternative counts alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment, although in doing so, they are entitled only to a single measure of damages arising out of those alternative claims, given that reliance is an essential element of a claim of fraud and that false representations can be oral and written, this court did not construe paragraph 5 of count one as alleging an express contract or agreement between the parties, and given that count four sounded i