Opinion
(12932)
Submitted on briefs January 6, 1995
Decision released March 14, 1995
Action to recover damages from the defendant for its allegedly improper storage and disposal of hazardous waste materials in violation of state regulations, and for other relief, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Hartford-New Britain at Hartford, where the defendant was defaulted for failure to appear; thereafter, following a hearing in damages, the court, L. Sullivan, J., rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff in part and ordered the defendant to pay certain fines, and the plaintiff appealed to this court. Reversed; further proceedings.
Richard Blumenthal, attorney general, and David H. Wrinn, assistant attorney general, filed a brief for the appellant (plaintiff).
The plaintiff brought this action to recover damages from the defendant for numerous alleged violations of the state's hazardous waste management regulations. Because the defendant failed to appear for trial, the trial court granted the plaintiff's motion for default. Thereafter, the trial court conducted a hearing in damages. At that hearing, the trial court rendered judgment on only two of the violations alleged in the complaint and denied judgment on the remaining twenty-eight violations. The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court, having granted the plaintiff's motion for default for failure to appear for trial, improperly failed to render judgment as to each of the thirty violations pleaded in the complaint. We reverse the judgment of the trial court.
The plaintiff abandoned her appeal of the trial court's denial of injunctive relief prior to the date the matter was submitted on the briefs.
The defendant was defaulted pursuant to Practice Book § 364(a), which provides: "If a defendant is defaulted for failure to appear for trial, evidence may be introduced and judgment rendered without notice to the defendant." The result of an entry of a default for failure to appear is that liability is conclusively presumed. People's Bank v. Horesco, 205 Conn. 319, 322, 533 A.2d 850 (1987). Therefore, the plaintiff was relieved of any obligation to prove the allegations of the complaint except as to the damages. Baldwin v. Harmony Builders, Inc., 31 Conn. App. 242, 245-46, 624 A.2d 393 (1993). The trial court improperly found that the defendant was not liable for twenty-eight of the alleged violations.