Debra Rost v. Patricia Vining, Administrator of the Estate of Richard Vining (2013)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION REGARDING PLAINTIFF'S MOTION TO STRIKE NOTICE OF APPORTIONMENT, # 114.00

The plaintiff, Debra Rost, moves to strike the notice of apportionment filed by the defendant, Patricia Vining, as administrator of the estate of Richard Vining, in this negligence action arising out of a motor vehicle accident that occurred on July 8, 2011.   Vining seeks to add James Cochran into this action as an apportionment defendant, alleging that Cochran's negligence caused a motor vehicle accident on October 28, 2011, that negligence “was the (emphasis added by this author) proximate cause of a portion of the injuries the plaintiff alleges she suffered as a result of the motor vehicle accident that is the subject of the present case.”  (Docket # 114.00, p. 2.)

Vining's notice of apportionment raises issues similar to those analyzed by the court in Duby v. Tunxis Management Co., Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, Docket No. CV 02 0821772 (June 9, 2004, Sheldon, J.) [37 Conn. L. Rptr. 233].   As in Duby, the present notice of apportionment is only a denial of proximate causation for all, or a portion, of the injuries suffered by the plaintiff based on Cochran negligently causing the October 28, 2011 accident, “not a claim for apportionment of damages, which cannot occur unless both the defendant and the apportionment defendant proximately caused the same damages”;  Id.;   that is, both Vining and Cochran proximately caused the damages resulting from the July 8, 2011 accident.   The notice of apportionment does not contend that Cochran's negligence proximately caused the injuries suffered as a result of the July 8, 2011 accident.   Accordingly, apportionment is inappropriate.

Based on the foregoing, the motion to strike is GRANTED.

Zemetis, J.

Zemetis, Terence A., J.