4.4-19 Joint and Several Contracts
Revised to June 3, 2011
If you find that the contract was breached and that the
breach caused damages to the plaintiff, you must then determine
to what extent each of the defendants is liable for those
damages.
Where each of the defendants agrees to be liable in
full for performance of the contract, they each become fully
responsible and liable for all damages resulting from a breach
of the contract, whether they or one of their fellow defendants
committed the breach.
Where each of the defendants agrees to
be liable for only part of the performance of the contract, each
is only responsible for performance of (his/her/its) obligations
and only liable for damages resulting from (his/her/its) breach
of those obligations. Under our law, there is a presumption that
where two or more parties agree to the same performance, they
are all fully liable for that performance, unless the contract
says otherwise.1
You must determine whether all the
defendants intended to promise to the plaintiff the same
performance regarding the obligation that was breached. If they
did, they are all liable for the full damages resulting from the
breach. If they did not, then you must determine (which/who)
among the defendants is or are liable, and for each, for how
much (he/she/it) is liable.
The first place to look to find
the parties’ intent is the wording that was used in the
contract. Words in a contract are to be given their ordinary
meaning [,unless they are special terms of trade or the parties
have given them special meaning]. If you cannot determine what
was intended from the language of the contract, you may consider
the circumstances surrounding the making of the contract. You
may also consider the motives of the parties and the end they
sought to accomplish by the contract. However, the circumstances
surrounding the making of the contract, the purposes the parties
sought to accomplish, and their motives cannot prove an intent
contrary to the plain meaning of the language.
Finally, what
is important is the intent the defendants expressed to the
plaintiff. The fact that among themselves the defendants may
have intended a certain division of responsibility or liability
is not relevant if that intent was never expressed to the
plaintiff. The defendants’ liability must be determined based on
what the defendants actually communicated to the plaintiff
through the contract and, if necessary, the surrounding
circumstances.
_________________________________________
1
It is possible that the defendants all agreed to be liable for
the performance of part of the contract, but individually liable
for the performance of other parts of the contract. If so, the
charge should be modified accordingly.
Authority
Updike,
Kelly & Spellacy, P.C. v. Beckett, 269 Conn. 613, 658-66 (2004);
Effect of Contract
Language, Instruction 4.2-1;
Consideration of
Surrounding Circumstances, Instruction 4.2-2.
|
