Advance Release Opinions – October 31

Connecticut Supreme Court

Res Judicata

Wellswood Columbia, LLC v. Hebron – In the first action, plaintiff sued for a temporary and permanent injunction barring Hebron from closing a road that was the only access to plaintiff’s property. The trial court denied the injunction. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded with instruction to grant the injunction. Plaintiff then commenced the second action seeking damages for temporary taking, temporary nuisance, and tortious interference with business expectancies. Trial court granted defendant summary judgment in the second action on res judicata grounds. Supreme Court affirmed, finding that a temporary taking claim accrues before the temporary taking ends; the road closure did not fall within the continuing or recurrent wrong exception to res judicata; and plaintiff could have pursued the tortious interference claim in the first action because the road closure caused an immediate and cognizable loss.