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Gagne v. Vaccaro12/9/2003
This case returns to us following a remand to the trial court by the Supreme Court. In this appeal, the defendant, Enrico Vaccaro, claims the trial court improperly (1) denied his motion to open and to set aside the judgment, (2) awarded the plaintiff offer of judgment interest and (3) granted the plaintiff's prejudgment remedy of attachment. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
This action between attorneys originated in a personal injury matter. The plaintiff, J. William Gagne, Jr., brought an action to recover damages for the defendant's failure to pay him a portion of attorney's fees recovered in the settlement of that matter in which the plaintiff had performed a significant amount of work. The complaint contained five counts, including a claim of unjust enrichment. The case was tried to a jury, which found in favor of the plaintiff on all five counts and awarded damages in the amount of $328,469.14. Pursuant to Practice Book § 16-37, the defendant filed a motion to open the judgment and to set aside the verdict, and for judgment notwithstanding the verdict, which the court granted.
The plaintiff appealed from that judgment to the Appellate Court; pursuant to General Statutes § 51-199 (c) and Practice Book § 65-1, that appeal was transferred to the Supreme Court. On March 6, 2001, the Supreme Court decided whether a per se rule precluding recovery on the basis of quantum meruit or unjust enrichment, despite the absence of bad faith or client consent, is appropriate when an attorney fails to put into writing a contingency fee agreement pursuant to General Statutes § 52-251c. The court overruled in part Alan E. Silver, P.C. v. Jacobs, 43 Conn. App. 184, 682 A.2d 551, cert. denied, 239 Conn. 938, 684 A.2d 708 (1996), and held that an attorney who neglects to follow the dictates of § 52-251c may collect attorney's fees from a successor attorney after settlement. Gagne v. Vaccaro, 255 Conn. 390, 408, 766 A.2d 416 (2001). The judgment of the trial court was reversed in part and the case was remanded to that court to render judgment for the plaintiff on the unjust enrichment count. Id., 411.
Subsequently, on May 3, 2001, the plaintiff filed a motion for the calculation of interest pursuant to General Statutes § 52-192a and Practice Book § 17-18. One week later, in response to the plaintiff's application, the court held a prejudgment remedy hearing. In its memorandum of decision issued December 10, 2001, the court found that the plaintiff was entitled to offer of judgment and postjudgment interest, and costs and attorney's fees, and rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff on the unjust enrichment count in the amount of $593,302.13. The court also granted the plaintiff's prejudgment remedy application, but deferred calculation of the specific amount. The defendant filed a motion to open and to set aside the judgment, which was denied by the court on May 8, 2002. On May 28, 2002, the defendant filed this appeal. By order dated June 21, 2002, the court set the prejudgment remedy amount.
I.
The defendant's first claim on appeal is that the court improperly denied his motion to open and to set aside the judgment because an unjust enrichment claim cannot legally be tried to a jury. In addition, the defendant contends that the jury's verdict on that claim was rendered using an erroneous legal standard. We disagree.
"A motion to open and vacate a judgment . . . is addressed to the [trial] court's discretion, and the action of the trial court will not be disturbed on appeal unless it acted unreasonably and in clear abuse of its discretion. . . . In determining whether the trial court abused its discretion, this court must make ever
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