Advance Release Opinions – September 19

Connecticut Supreme Court

The Supreme Court advance released two decisions dealing with the firefighter’s rule in personal injury cases.

Sepega v. DeLaura – The firefighter’s rule precludes a police officer’s nonpremises liability negligence claim for injuries sustained in breaking down a door to reach the defendant who was threatening to harm himself.

Lund v. Milford Hospital – The firefighter’s rule does not preclude a state trooper’s claim for injuries sustained in subduing a patient committed to defendant’s psychiatric care because the substitute complaint clarified that the alleged negligence was not “intimately connected with the very occasion for which the trooper was on the property.”