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Juchniewicz v. Bridgeport Hospital12/7/2004
the plaintiff's exercise of care only if contributory negligence has been affirmatively pleaded. Id., 327.
Similarly, in this instance, the denial of the plaintiff's request to charge was proper because contributory negligence was outside the issues framed by the pleadings. "To be acceptable, a request to charge must be relevant to the evidence and the issues presented in court." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. The issues in a case are framed by the pleadings, and the evidence proffered must be relevant to the issues raised in the pleadings. See Telesco v. Telesco, 187 Conn. 715, 720, 447 A.2d 752 (1982). In order for a defendant to assert a defense of contributory negligence, it must be raised as a special defense. Practice Book ยง 10-53. In this case, the defendant did not raise the special defense of contributory negligence. The jury instructions were consistent with the pleadings and the evidence presented, and therefore provided proper guidance for the jury to resolve the issues presented.
Accordingly, we conclude that the court properly refused the plaintiff's request to instruct the jury regarding the exercise of reasonable care of the plaintiff's decedent.
II.
We next review the plaintiff's claim that the court improperly failed to require the defendant to amend his answer to plead contributory negligence and that the court improperly failed to charge the jury on contributory negligence. The plaintiff filed a motion on December 4, 2002, the day following closing arguments and jury instructions, requesting the court to allow the defendant to plead contributory negligence in order for the court to charge the jury on the issue of whether the plaintiff's decedent was responsible, in part, for her death. The court denied the motion and declined to instruct the jury regarding the negligence of the plain-tiff's decedent. The plaintiff claims that the defendant consistently argued that the plaintiff's decedent acted negligently and that such negligence caused her death. Consequently, the plaintiff claims, the court should have required the defendant to plead contributory negligence and to assume the burden of proof. With regard to that issue, our review of the record does not support the plaintiff's contention.
"The standard we use in reviewing evidentiary matters, including the sufficiency of the evidence to submit a claim to the jury, is abuse of discretion. . . . Accordingly, great weight is given to the trial court's decision and every reasonable presumption is given in favor of its correctness. . . . We will reverse the trial court's ruling only if it could not reasonably conclude as it did. Issues that are not supported by the evidence should not be submitted to the jury." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Murray v. Taylor, 65 Conn. App. 300, 328, 782 A.2d 702, cert. denied, 258 Conn. 928, 783 A.2d 1029 (2001). Overall, the court's jury instructions will be upheld when the "instructions were correct in the law, adapted to the issues in the case and provided sufficient guidance to the jury." Blatchley v. Mintz, 81 Conn. App. 782, 786, 841 A.2d 1203, cert. denied. 270 Conn. 901, 853 A.2d 519 (2004).
In denying the plaintiff's motion, the court concluded that the defendant had not argued or attempted to prove contributory negligence and therefore ruled that it would be improper to charge the jury on contributory negligence. The court did not abuse its discretion in reaching that conclusion. In the complaint, the plaintiff alleged that the defendant had failed "to exercise that degree of care and skill ordinarily and customarily used by health care providers" during his treatment of the plaintiff's decedent. The d
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