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DRAFT FOR ATTORNEY REVIEW — NOT FINAL

§ 46a-58

Citation
§ 46a-58
Parent Document
Connecticut Judicial Branch v. Gilbert, 343 Conn. 90 (2022)
Jurisdiction
Connecticut (state)
Effective Date
2022-04-26

Other Sections in This Document (128)

Full Text

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29, 2014. The precise ruling is unclear. The record con-
          tains an e-mail to the parties on that date from Assistant
          Attorney General Ann E. Lynch, who presumably was
          serving as counsel to the branch. The e-mail states that
          ‘‘[t]his is to confirm that [the] [r]eferee . . . ordered
          [the] complainant to provide [the branch’s] counsel
          . . . with a complete copy of . . . Coyle’s file no later
          than October 15, 2014. In the alternative, on or before
          October 7, 2014, [the complainant] is to provide [the
          branch’s] counsel with a release authorizing [the branch’s]
          counsel to obtain a complete copy of . . . Coyle’s file.’’
          In its subsequent briefing to the commission, however,
          the branch repeatedly characterized the referee’s Sep-
          tember 29 oral ruling differently. In one motion, for
          instance, the branch states: ‘‘On September 29, 2014,
          during the prehearing conference, [the] [r]eferee . . .
          ruled that, if the complainant intended on pursuing
          anything other than garden-variety emotional dis-
          tress, she needed to provide copies of her psychological
          or mental health records.’’ (Emphasis added.) The
          branch thus appears to acknowledge that the referee
          did not unconditionally order the complainant to dis-
          close her private medical records but, instead, ruled
          that she would need to do so if she wished to recover
          anything more than garden-variety emotional distress
          damages.26
            In any event, during the two years that passed between
          the referee’s September, 2014 ruling and the November,
          2016 hearing, the complainant made various attempts
          to accommodate the branch’s discovery request while
          preserving her medical privacy. After obtaining an
          extension of time within which to produce the requested
            26
               In some instances, but not others, the branch characterized the referee’s
          order as precluding not only medical testimony but also any testimony by
          the complainant’s husband as to her emotional state. Our review of the
          record did not disclose any independent verification of this contention, and
          the referee did, in fact, allow the complainant’s husband to testify at trial
          regarding her emotional distress.
Page 70                         CONNECTICUT LAW JOURNAL                              April 26, 2022