Due Process

The Hartford Courant has reported on an opinion of the Connecticut Supreme Court that is scheduled to be released tomorrow. The case is novel in that it applies the law of equity to an increasingly growing social relationship– the live-in, unmarried couple. (For those of you playing along at home go to the following site and then scroll down and click on the link to Allstate Insurance v. Palumbo to read the opinion in its entirety: http://www.jud.ct.gov/external/supapp/archiveAROsup10.htm.) Allstate Insurance, the “good hands” people, successfully sued Stephen Palumbo to recover more than $60,000.00 that Allstate paid to Palumbo’s fiance to resolve a fire insurance claim.

Palumbo moved into the home of his fiance, Lisa Deveau, and agreed to share expenses with her. Forty years ago when my wife and I were engaged such an act would have been looked upon as “living in sin.” Today, it is not only socially acceptable but appears to be the preferred precursor to actually tying the knot permanently, especially in this age when failure in marriage is more common than success. Palumbo, being the handy sort, apparently wired a hot tub in the home incorrectly, leading to a fire in its heating element that caused extensive damage to the home. Allstate insured Ms. Deveau and paid the claim.

Deveau apparently forgave Palumbo, but Allstate had other thoughts. It started a lawsuit under a doctrine called “equitable subrogation.” Subrogation is a legal doctrine that allows an insurer to stand in the shoes of its insured after paying a claim, and bring suit against the offending party to recover what it has paid on the loss. So, Allstate becomes the alter ego of Deveau, and sues the fiance. Even in this age of relaxed social mores and evolving romantic relationships, starting down the path to marriage via a lawsuit is hardly a sound basis for success. I can’t imagine telling one of my grandchildren, “Back when we were engaged Grandma sued Papa!”

I won’t bore you with the legal details, but suffice it to say that the trial judge bought into Allstate’s theory and returned a verdict against the well-meaning, but electricity challenged fiance. A panel of three judges in Connecticut’s Appellate Court agreed with the trial judge. The case wound up before our Supreme Court and Justice Joette Katz. Justice Katz recognized what had eluded the four judges before her, equity means a court can do the right thing! In the first appeal the Appellate Court affirmed the verdict but the Supreme Court, led by Justice Katz, reversed the decision and returned the case to the trial court with the direction to enter a verdict for the defendant.

I knew Justice Katz when she was an assistant in the Bridgeport Public Defender’s Office and then as a trial judge. Not only was she a bright and insightful lawyer, but someone who saw the practical implications of what judges decide.

Courts exercise strict judicial principles in many instances but when a party brings an action that invokes the court’s equity powers that party is asking a judge to look beyond the strict application of the law and do what is right under the circumstances. Justice Katz did just that, ‘‘The object of [equitable] subrogation is the prevention of injustice. It is designed to promote and to accomplish justice, and is the mode which equity adopts to compel the ultimate payment of a debt by one who, in justice, equity, and good conscience, should pay it. . . . “

Too often in the law we “pigeon-hole” people or issues. Katz refused to “. . . assign the relationship to whichever category is the closest fit to determine whether subrogation is proper.” The couple were not married nor was this a true landlord and tenant situation. It simply didn’t fit a recognized pigeon-hole. So Justice Katz did what we hope judges will do– what she thought was the right thing.

Rich Meehan is a senior partner in the law firm of Meehan, Meehan & Gavin, LLP, Bridgeport, Conn. For more information on Rich or his firm go to www.meehanlaw.com or www.ctdentalmalpracticelawyer.com, or e-mail Rich at rtm@meehanlaw.com