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SUAREZ v. DICKMONT PLASTICS CORPORATION2/18/1997
This appeal arises from a judgment rendered for the plaintiff, Alfonso Suarez, following a jury verdict against the defendant, Dickmont Plastics Corporation, after remand from this court in Suarez v. Dickmont Plastics Corp., 229 Conn. 99, 639 A.2d 507 (1994), in which we reversed the summary judgment originally rendered for the defendant. In Suarez, this court concluded that a plaintiff employee could establish an intentional tort claim and overcome the exclusivity bar of the Workers' Compensation Act (act); General Statutes § 31-275 et seq.; by proving either that the employer actually intended to injure the plaintiff (actual
intent standard) or that the employer intentionally created a dangerous condition that made the plaintiff's injuries substantially certain to occur (substantial certainty standard). We reasoned: "The substantial certainty test differs from the true intentional tort test but still preserves the statutory scheme and the overall purposes of the act. The problem with the intentional tort test, i.e., whether the employer intended the specific injury , appears to be that it allows employers to injure and even kill employees and suffer only workers' compensation damages so long as the employer did not specifically intend to hurt the worker. . . . Prohibiting a civil action in such a case would allow a corporation to `cost-out' an investment decision to kill workers. . . . The substantial certainty test provides for the intent to injure exception to be strictly construed and still allows for a plaintiff to maintain a cause of action against an employer where the evidence is sufficient to support an inference that the employer deliberately instructed an employee to injure himself." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., 109-10.
After a trial on the merits following our remand, the jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. By its answers to special interrogatories, the jury indicated that the plaintiff had proven that the defendant was liable for the plaintiff's injury , and that the plaintiff was not responsible for his own injury. The trial court refused to set aside the verdict or to render a judgment notwithstanding the verdict. The defendant appealed from the judgment of the trial court to the Appellate Court, and we transferred the appeal to this court pursuant to Practice Book § 4023 and General Statutes § 51-199 (c).
On appeal, the defendant argues that: (1) because the jury found that the plaintiff had failed to prove the defendant liable under the substantial certainty standard, judgment must be rendered for the defendant
because the actual intent standard was not before the jury; (2) even if the actual intent standard had been before the jury, the trial court improperly instructed the jury that the actions of a foreman employed by the defendant may be attributed to the defendant under the theory of either apparent authority or alter ego to establish the defendant's underlying intentional conduct; (3) there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's conclusion that the defendant was liable for the actions of the foreman based on the theory that the foreman was the alter ego of the defendant; and (4) there was insufficient evidence to support the jury's conclusion that the defendant actually intended to injure the plaintiff. We reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case to that court with direction to render judgment for the defendant.
The jury reasonably could have found the following facts. In 1973, the plaintiff, a Guatemalan native with a sixth grade education, began working for the defendant and continued his employment, with the exception of a few brief periods, for approxima
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