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Asselin & Vieceli Partnership, LLC v. Washburn

Conn. App. Ct.November 26, 2019No. AC41439Cited 3 times
Plaintiff WinWashburn$275,607 awarded
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Case Details

Judge(s)
DiPentima; Keller; Sheldon
Status — whether other courts must follow this ruling
Published
Procedural Posture — the stage the case had reached
appeal

Related Laws

No specific laws identified for this ruling.

Outcome

The trial court properly confirmed the arbitration award of $275,607 in favor of the plaintiff for the defendant's negligent construction of a bulkhead. The appellate court affirmed, rejecting the defendant's challenges to the award.

Excerpt

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendant for, inter alia, negligence in connection with the defendant's construction of a bulkhead at a marina operated by M Co. on property owned by the plaintiff. Pursuant to a lease agreement between the plaintiff and M Co., M Co. was obligated to maintain the structural improvements at the marina. When the bulkhead began to deteriorate soon after its construction, the plaintiff commenced this action against the defendant, who then filed a motion to stay the action for arbitration pursuant to an arbitration clause in the construction contract between the defendant and M Co., of which the plaintiff was a third-party beneficiary. The trial court granted the motion and stayed the plaintiff's action pending arbitration. Thereafter, the plaintiff and the defendant entered into an agreement with an arbitrator to arbitrate their dispute. The arbitration agreement provided, inter alia, that the arbitration would proceed on an ad hoc basis, without an administering organization. In her award, the arbitrator found that the bulkhead was a total loss, that the defendant was negligent in constructing it and that his negligence proximately caused its failure. The arbitrator awarded the plaintiff $275,607 in damages. Thereafter, the defendant filed a demand for a trial de novo with the trial court, and the plaintiff filed an objection to that demand and an application to confirm the arbitration award. Following a hearing, the court denied the defendant's demand for a trial de novo and granted the plaintiff's application to confirm the award. On the defendant's appeal to this court, held: 1. This court declined to review the defendant's claims that the trial court should have vacated the arbitration award because the arbitrator failed to comply with the mandatory oath requirement of the applicable statute (§ 52-414 [d]) and the plaintiff failed to comply with the statute (§ 52- 421 [a]) that requires certain documents to be filed

What This Ruling Means

# Court Ruling Summary: Asselin & Vieceli Partnership v. Washburn ## What Happened A company hired Washburn to build a bulkhead (a water barrier structure) at a marina. Soon after construction, the structure began falling apart. The company that owned the property sued Washburn, claiming the builder did careless work—specifically, negligence in constructing the bulkhead. ## What the Court Decided Both the trial court and appeals court sided with the property owner. The courts confirmed an arbitration award of $275,607 in damages. This means Washburn had to pay that amount for failing to do the job properly. The appeals court rejected Washburn's attempts to overturn the decision. ## Why This Matters for Workers This case demonstrates that companies and contractors can be held financially responsible when they perform work carelessly. If workers or their employers suffer losses because of poor workmanship, they have legal recourse to recover damages. It reinforces that quality and proper construction practices aren't optional—there are real financial consequences for negligence.

This summary was generated to explain the ruling in plain English and is not legal advice.

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