Opinion
(2594)
Argued January 11, 1985
Decision released March 19, 1985
Action to recover damages for personal injuries sustained as a result of the alleged negligence of the named defendant, brought to the Superior Court in the judicial district of New London and tried to the jury before Edelberg, J.; judgment for the defendants, from which the plaintiffs appealed to this court. Error; new trial.
Thomas B. Wilson, for the appellants (plaintiffs).
Allan R. Johnson, for the appellees (defendants).
The plaintiffs appeal from the judgment on a jury verdict for the defendants. They claim the single error of the court's refusal to admit into evidence a written statement of the defendant Natalie Menghi.
The owner of the car, Mary Epolito, is a defendant as well as Natalie Menghi, the named defendant, who was the operator.
The plaintiffs had alleged, in part, that the car which Menghi was driving was rolling at the time the minor plaintiff's bicycle collided with it. They also had alleged that Menghi violated General Statutes 14-243 (a), which prohibits moving a vehicle from a parked position until such movement can be made in reasonable safety.
During the trial, the plaintiffs offered, as an admission, a written statement that Menghi had given to the investigating police officer. The statement indicated that she was indeed rolling at the time of the accident. The court sustained the defendants' objection to the admission of that evidence.
The court erred in failing to admit into evidence, as an admission of a party-opponent, Menghi's statement to the investigating police officer. Bonner v. Winter, 175 Conn. 41, 44, 392 A.2d 436 (1978); Holden Daly, Connecticut Evidence (1966 Sup. 1983) 101. "This admission had a direct and vital bearing on the decisive issue in the case." Bonner v. Winter, supra, 44-45. Therefore, the court's erroneous ruling was harmful and the plaintiffs are entitled to a new trial.