Free Letter - District Court of Connecticut - Connecticut

Case 3:02-cv-02244-HBF Document 102 Filed 10/20/2006 Page 1 of 2
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VIA FACIMILE
And FIRST CLASS MAIL ,
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The Honorable Holly B. Fitzsimmons
U.S. Magistrate Judge
United States District Court {
915 Lafayette Boulevard
I Bridgeport, CT 06604
Re: Lisa Blumenschine v. Professional Media Group
Civil Action No. 302 CV2244 (HBF)
Dear Judge Fitzsimmons: U
This letter is in response to defendant’s submission dated October 13, 2006 in conjunction
with Your Honor’s question whether double damages can be awarded without or separate from
attorney’s fees under Comiecticut General Statutes §31-72.
Plaintiff is in agreement with defendant’s reading ofthe statutory language in §3 1 -72 that an
award of double damages and an award of attorney’s fees are acts of judicial discretion. However,
plaintiff does not agree with defendant’s belief that double damages and attorney’s fees are awarded
as separate acts of judicial discretion under §31-72 once the requisite factual findings for such an 2
award has been made.
In Harty v. Cantor Fitzgerald & Co., 275 Conn. 72 (2005), the court interpreted §31-72 i
within the narrow context of an arbitration clause which did not allow for recovery of "special, ·
exemplary, or punitive damages." Q at 76-77. The court distinguished between the nature of
double damages and attorney’s fees only to the extent that attorney’s fees were characterized as
"damages in the nature of punitive damages" and thus fell outside the scope ofthe arbitration clause.
Q at 99. This characterization has no bearing on whether a court may award only double damages
or only attorney’s fees under §3 1 -72. These damages are to be awarded under §31-72 upon a finding
of "bad faith, arbitrariness or unreasonableness." Schoonmaker v. Lawrence Brunoli, Inc., 265
Conn. 210, 269 (2003). Courts in this jurisdiction have held that once this factual finding is {
established, "such an award is appropriate." Q Butler v. Hartford Technical Institute, Inc., 243 E
Conn. 454, 470 (1997); Sansone v. Clifford, 219 Conn. 217, 229 (1991). Indeed, defendant did not |

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Case 3:02-cv-02244-HBF Document 102 Filed 10/20/2006 Page 2 of 2
MARTIN, LUCAS & CHIOFFI, LLP
The Honorable Holly B. Fitzsimmons
October 17, 2006
Page 2
point to, nor could we find, a single case where double damages and attorney’s fees were not both
awarded under §31-72 after a finding of bad faith, arbitrariness or unreasonableness.
In Schoonmaker v. Lawrence Brunoli, Inc., 265 Conn. 210, 273 (2003), which the defendant
cited to support the proposition of awards under §3l—72 as "separate and apart," the court actually
awarded both double damages and attorney’s fees. The only question in Schoonmaker was whether
the lower court’s departure from the terms of the contingency fee agreement that existed between
plaintiffs and their counsel was an abuse of discretion. Q. The court stated in Schoonmaker that,
"[a]s long as the couit awards attorney’s fees that are sufficient to cover a plaintiffs financial
obligations to his or her attorney, such as an existing contingency agreement, the employee still will
be made whole by the award of double da1nages." ld. Thus, Schoonmaker indicates the failure to
award double damages as well as fees sufficient to cover the employee’s obligation to his or her
attorneys would have been an abuse of discretion.
Since the jury has already made the requisite fact—finding of bad faith, arbitrary or
unreasonable conduct by the defendant in this case, an award of statutory double damages and
attorney’s fees is appropriate. i
Sin rely yours, _‘__ _ I
" ¤·• ' . Lucas
snnbkr /
cc: Michael L. Ferch, Esq.
Ms. Lisa Blumenschine
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