Stone v. East Coast Swappers, LLC

Citations

• 337 Conn. 589

Syllabus

Pursuant to statute (§ 42-110g (d)), ''[i]n any action brought by a person'' under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) (§ 42-110a et seq.), ''the court may award . . . reasonable attorneys' fees based on the work reasonably performed by an attorney and not on the amount of recovery.'' The plaintiff sought to recover damages and attorney's fees from the defen- dant, a motor vehicle repair shop, for violation of CUTPA in connection with the installation of a modified engine in a car owned by K, the plaintiff's son-in-law, and financed through W Co., a third-party automo- bile finance company. The plaintiff had loaned K the money to pay the defendant for the requested work, but the engine was never installed because K did not want to pay for certain additional costs that the defendant indicated were necessary for installation. K subsequently failed to repay the loan, and the plaintiff obtained a judgment against K and secured a lien on the car that was subsequent in right only to that of W Co. The plaintiff informed the defendant of his status as a 590 AUGUST, 2021 337 Conn. 589 Stone v. East Coast Swappers, LLC second position lienholder on the car's title. Subsequently, the defendant, which had retained the car, sold it at an auction. The plaintiff alleged that the defendant had violated CUTPA by refusing to perform the work that had been paid for and by failing to provide the plaintiff, a lienholder, with statutory notice of the auction. The trial court concluded that the plaintiff had proven a CUTPA violation and awarded him damages. The court also concluded, however, that the plaintiff had not proven the evil motive or malice necessary to award punitive damages, and it exer- cised its discretion by finding that the plaintiff was not entitled to attorney's fees. The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment to the Appellate Court, claiming that the trial court improperly had declined to award him attorney's fees. The Appellate Court affirmed