Viking Construction, Inc. v. TMP Construction Group, LLC

Citations

• 338 Conn. 361

Syllabus

The plaintiff general contractor sought to recover damages for breach of contract from the defendant subcontractor in connection with the defen- dant's abandonment of work it was purportedly obligated to perform in constructing an apartment complex. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff and awarded damages. The defendant filed a motion to set aside the verdict, arguing that the parties' contract, as a matter of law, precluded an award of any relief to the plaintiff. The trial court denied the defendant's motion, concluding that the jury reasonably could have based its award of damages on provisions of the contract permitting an award of damages against the defendant for costs associated with repairing defective work. Thereafter, the trial court rendered judgment in accordance with the verdict, and the defendant appealed. Held that the trial court properly declined to set aside the jury's verdict: to the extent that the defendant presented arguments relying on evidence or arguments that were presented to the jury, and to the extent that the defendant contended that the plaintiff never claimed at trial that the provisions of the contract obligating the defendant to cover the cost to the plaintiff of repairing defective work entitled the plaintiff to damages, this court was unable to assess such arguments or contention, as the defendant failed to provide this court with transcripts of the trial court proceedings; moreover, there was no merit to the defendant's claim that, even if the jury had based its award of damages on other provisions of the contract, those provisions did not entitle the plaintiff to recover repair damages as a matter of law, as the trial court properly relied on the provisions of the contract obligating the defendant to cover the cost of repairing defective work in declining to set aside the jury's verdict. Argued November 20, 2020—officially released March 16, 2021 March 16, 2021, the date that this decision was released as a slip