Lewis Lerman recently obtained a defense verdict in a courtside trial at the Connecticut Superior Court with Small Claims Magistrate Anthony DiPentima residing. The plaintiff brought this action to recover the value of a truck after a claim was made with the defendant. The plaintiff claimed the truck had been stolen, and upon an investigation of the claim, the defendant denied it.
The plaintiff was the original owner of the vehicle, which he subsequently gave to his son. The plaintiff’s son predeceased him in January 2021. The plaintiff subsequently petitioned the Waterbury Probate Court in March 2022 to have the vehicle returned to him. In the probate petition, the plaintiff listed the value of the vehicle as $2,500.
The defendant denied the claim. At trial, an agent for the defendant testified that the vehicle was found abandoned in Rhode Island in June 2021. The vehicle was subsequently towed to a salvage company and sold at an auction in February 2022. The witness further testified that the plaintiff was not listed as an owner or an insured driver on this vehicle at the time the vehicle was sold at auction. The plaintiff testified that he had taken the vehicle back from his son and that the vehicle was stolen in October 2021. The truck was listed as being owned by the plaintiff’s son at the time it was allegedly stolen.
The Court found that the plaintiff did not sustain his burden of proof in this matter, considering the circumstances of the truck having been abandoned in Rhode Island four months prior to the alleged claim that the vehicle was stolen in October 2021. In addition, the claim for $5,000 when the value was listed by the plaintiff to the Probate Court as being $2,500 was troubling, despite the plaintiff’s claim that work had been done to the vehicle. The Court found the testimony of the defendant to be the more compelling testimony and entered judgment for the defendant.