Weeman v. Church
Weeman v. Church
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs in these combined appeals are administrators of the estates of two men who died as a result of a one car accident. The defendant is the owner of a tavern at which the decedents had been
On behalf of the decedents, the plaintiffs instituted actions against the defendant, the owner and permit-tee of the Linebacker Cafe. The complaints were in two counts, the first based on a violation of the Dram Shop Act,
The trial court stated that “this court is unable to make an inference that because of the high blood alcohol content of each of the deceased that they or each of them must have been obviously intoxicated sometime earlier when Weeman was served alcohol at the
"The trial court’s role in addressing motions for prejudgment remedies is limited. ‘The language of our prejudgment remedy statutes; General Statutes § 52-278a et seq.; requires that the [trial] court determine "whether or not there is probable cause to sustain the validity of the plaintiff’s claim”; General Statutes § 52-278d (a); that is to say “probable cause that judgment will be rendered in the matter in favor of the plaintiff.” General Statutes § 52-278c (a) (2). . . . The plaintiff does not have to establish that he will prevail, only that there is probable cause to sustain the validity of the claim. . . .’
"Our role in reviewing the decision of a trial court on a prejudgment remedy motion is similarly ‘very circumscribed. It is not to duplicate the trial court’s weighing process, but rather to determine whether its conclusion was reasonable. "In the absence of clear error, this court should not overrule the thoughtful decision of the trial court, which has had an opportunity to assess the legal issues which may be raised and to weigh the credibility of at least some of the witnesses.” ’ ‘We therefore do not decide whether the legal conclusions reached by the trial court were correct or erroneous. We review the legal conclusions of the trial court only to the limited extent of determining whether its conclusions were reasonable.’ ” (Citation omitted.) Dow & Condon, Inc. v. Anderson, 203 Conn. 475, 479-80, 525 A.2d 935 (1987).
With this limited standard in mind, we turn to the plaintiffs’ claim. We find that the conclusion of the
The plaintiffs presented no evidence as to what state of intoxication the decedents were in as they left the defendant’s bar. Further, the plaintiffs’ only -witness testified that Weeman consumed only one beer while in his presence at the Linebacker Cafe, and that his reason for declining the offer of a ride home was that he lived only a short distance from the tavern, making no mention of Weeman’s driving ability as a result of alcohol consumption. Finally, the plaintiffs’ witness did not testify as to what time he actually arrived at the bar or the actual time the trio left the bar, only that it was his custom to go to the Linebacker after playing in a pool tournament which usually concluded some time between 9 and 10 p.m. Thus, the trial court could reasonably have concluded that the witness arrived at the bar at approximately 9:30, remained for approximately one half-hour and then left. Thus, the court could have concluded that the trio left the tavern at approximately 10 p.m., leaving two hours between the departure from the Linebacker Cafe and the fatal crash. On the basis of these facts, it was reasonable for the court to conclude that the plaintiffs had not demonstrated that probable cause existed to sustain the prejudgment remedy.
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
General Statutes § 30-102 provides in pertinent part: “(a) If any person, by himself or his agent, sells any alcoholic liquor to an intoxicated person, and such purchaser, in consequence of such intoxication, thereafter injures the person or property of another, such seller shall pay just damages to the person injured, up to the amount of twenty thousand dollars, or to persons injured in consequence of such intoxication up to an aggregate amount of fifty thousand dollars, to be recovered in an action under this section . . . . ”
In its memorandum of decision the trial court stated in pertinent part: “It appears as to the first count in each of the cases that there is sufficient
“The prejudgment attachment that the defendants are seeking to dissolve is to secure recovery under the second count . . . .”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.