Pellecchia v. Connecticut Light & Power Co.
Pellecchia v. Connecticut Light & Power Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
The plaintiff Anthony J. Pellecchia, administrator of the estate of Anthony E. Pellecchia,
The plaintiffs claims stem from the death of his decedent, which occurred in July, 2006, when the decedent’s motorcycle came into contact with a downed, energized power line in Killingly. In 2008, the plaintiff brought a wrongful death action against three sets of defendants: the town of Killingly, David Sabourin and Anthony Shippee (town defendants); the Quinebaug Valley Emergency Communications, Inc.; and the utility defendants. In that action, the trial court rendered judgments of nonsuit against the plaintiff on his claims against the utility defendants and the town defendants, and those judgments were affirmed by this court. See Pelleccia v. Connecticut Light & Power Co., 126 Conn. App. 903, 12 A.3d 641 (2011).
In 2009, the plaintiff filed a new action against the utility defendants, which the trial court dismissed on the ground that it was filed beyond the two year statute of limitations for wrongful death actions and it was not saved by the accidental failure of suit statute. See General Statutes § 52-592. This court affirmed that judgment. Pelleccia v. Connecticut Light & Power Co., 139 Conn. App. 88, 54 A.3d 658 (2012), cert. denied, 307 Conn. 950, 60 A.3d 740 (2013).
In 2011, the plaintiff filed this action against the town defendants. The town defendants filed apportionment complaints against the fire department and the utility defendants pursuant to General Statutes § 52-102b (a), whereafter the plaintiff filed direct claims against the fire department and the utility defendants pursuant to
“Pursuant to Practice Book § 17-49, summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) J.E. Robert Co. v. Signature Properties, LLC, 309 Conn. 307, 333, 71 A.3d 492 (2013). Our review of summary judgment rulings is plenary. Id.
Section 52-102b (b) provides in relevant part: “If the apportionment complaint is served within the time period specified in subsection (a) of this section, no statute of limitation or repose shall be a defense or bar to such claim for apportionment, except that, if the action against the defendant who instituted the apportionment complaint pursuant to subsection (a) of this section is subject to such a defense or bar, the apportionment defendant may plead such a defense or bar to any claim brought by the plaintiff directly against the apportionment defendant pursuant to subsection (d) of this section.” (Emphasis added.)
Here, the town defendants asserted, and prevailed on, their claim that the plaintiffs action against them was barred by the relevant statute of limitations.
The judgments are affirmed.
PelleccMa also brought tMs action m Ms individual capacity. For conve-Mence, we refer to Mm M tMs opmion as the plaintiff.
The plaintiff also portends to raise other claims in tttis appeal that are moot as a result of our ruling herein.
The plaintiff seems to claim that because the town prevailed on its statute of limitations defense and was thus no longer a party to this action, and therefore no longer held the status of an apportionment plaintiff, that party’s statute of limitations defense would no longer be available to the apportionment defendants simply because the original defendant is no longer a party. Such a claim is without merit.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.