Preview:

****************************************************** The ``officially released'' date that appears near the beginning of each opinion is the date the opinion will be published in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it was released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the beginning of all time periods for filing postopinion motions and petitions for certification is the ``officially released'' date appearing in the opinion. In no event will any such motions be accepted before the ``officially released'' date. All opinions are subject to modification and technical correction prior to official publication in the Connecticut Reports and Connecticut Appellate Reports. In the event of discrepancies between the electronic version of an opinion and the print version appearing in the Connecticut Law Journal and subsequently in the Connecticut Reports or Connecticut Appellate Reports, the latest print version is to be considered authoritative. The syllabus and procedural history accompanying the opinion as it appears on the Commission on Official Legal Publications Electronic Bulletin Board Service and in the Connecticut Law Journal and bound volumes of official reports are copyrighted by the Secretary of the State, State of Connecticut, and may not be reproduced and distributed without the express written permission of the Commission on Official Legal Publications, Judicial Branch, State of Connecticut. ******************************************************

PETER C. KORES v. THOMAS L. CALO ET AL. (AC 31538)
Robinson, Bear and Freedman, Js. Argued October 18, 2010--officially released February 22, 2011

(Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of Litchfield, Gallagher, J.) Robert F. Cohen, with whom on the brief, was Sarah Ann Cohen, for the appellant (plaintiff). David R. Gronbach, for the appellees (defendants).

Opinion

BEAR, J. The plaintiff, Peter C. Kores, appeals from the judgment of the trial court awarding him only nominal damages in his successful action against the defendants, Thomas L. Calo and Gail M. Calo. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court improperly (1) concluded that Kemp Road in Winchester, also known as Calo's Way, was a private road, (2) treated the defendants' motion for articulation and to set aside the verdict as a motion to set aside the judgment, and (3) failed to award him attorney's fees and awarded him only nominal damages. We affirm the judgment of the trial court. The following facts and procedural history are relevant to our resolution of the plaintiff's claims on appeal. The plaintiff purchased 252 Kemp Road in 1999. The defendants purchased 254 Kemp Road in 2003.1 The parties' properties were part of the Highland Lake Shores subdivision, which was approved by the town of Winchester in the 1920s, and Kemp Road, located within the subdivision, is a gravel road that is shown on the subdivision map filed with the town and provides the sole access to several abutting lots. The defendants' predecessor in title had purchased Kemp Road at a tax foreclosure sale in 19882 and thereafter conveyed the road to the defendants. The deed to the road states that it is ``subject to rights of way as of record . . . and by reason of the fact that such roads were laid out as streets on [the subdivision] map.'' Prior to the defendants' purchasing 254 Kemp Road, the plaintiff and the owners of the two other developed lots on Kemp Road, including the defendants' predecessor in title, shared the expenses of the upkeep of the road, including winter plowing. The town did not plow or otherwise maintain Kemp Road, but the court found that the town most likely installed a catch basin therein in the 1960s or 1970s. After the defendants purchased 254 Kemp Road, problems between them and the plaintiff began to develop. Thomas Calo discharged the snowplow operator the neighbors had been using and informed him that he would be trespassing if he again attempted to plow the road. He also objected to the plaintiff's attempt to create an additional driveway on the plaintiff's property on the alleged ground that it would involve disturbing the road, to which the defendants claimed ownership, and he prevented the plaintiff's contractor from cutting the additional driveway. The police were called numerous times by each of the parties. Thomas Calo asserted that the plaintiff drove recklessly and that he caused damage to the road. The plaintiff asserted that the road was deteriorating because the defendants failed to maintain it properly. The plaintiff testified that Thomas Calo, in the winter months, also blocked access to one end of the road by parking a vehicle in the middle of it and by piling snow there as well. There was photo-

graphic evidence admitted to support this allegation. The plaintiff also complained that Thomas Calo, who is a state police trooper, frightened a visitor to the plaintiff's home by shining a light into the visitor's car and telling the visitor that she was not allowed to park on the road. The plaintiff also testified that two of his older daughters moved from the family home because of the stress of the situation between the plaintiff and the defendants and that Thomas Calo intimidated and yelled at the plaintiff's wife, whom the plaintiff described as a sixty-two year old woman who was five feet, two inches tall, weighing 115 pounds. The defendants also did not want the plaintiff parking his vehicles on the road in front of his home at 252 Kemp Road, and they stated that they believed that the plaintiff was trespassing by so doing. In an attempt to stop the plaintiff from parking there, Thomas Calo parked a large camper in front of the plaintiff's home, blocking the view from the plaintiff's front windows, covered it with a blue tarp and left it there for approximately two years. The plaintiff testified that in an attempt to put an end to the situation, he asked the defendants, through a letter to the defendants' attorney, to move the camper so that he could sell his home but that the defendants refused. The plaintiff also testified that because of the camper being parked directly in front of his home, he was not able to sell his home at the height of the real estate market. He testified that he had a long-standing background in real estate, having previously held a real estate license and a broker's license, and that he had spoken with some real estate agents in mid-2006 and that his home was worth between $350,000 and $375,000 at that time, but that the agents opined that his property was not saleable because of the camper. He also testified that one year later, the housing market crashed and that his property then and at the time of trial was worth only between $250,000 and $275,000. The plaintiff brought the present action, claiming in count one that he had an easement of necessity over the road and that the defendants repeatedly interfered with or obstructed his use of that easement and, in count two, that the actions of the defendants amounted to a nuisance. The plaintiff sought a determination of the rights of the parties to the road pursuant to General Statutes

Download Kores v. Calo.pdf

Connecticut Law