Pursuant to Executive Order 9O issued by the Governor of Connecticut on December 2nd, all time requirements related to Offers of Compromise, which have been suspended by the state since March 9, 2020, now terminate no later than December 15, 2020.
Connecticut, which unlike many states provides no prejudgment interest protection to its injured citizens, is also not known to have a very strong Offer of Compromise statute. However, Connecticut’s Offer of Compromise laws do provide the victims of personal injuries with some protection from bad faith insurance company tactics. Unfortunately, those Offer of Compromise protections have been suspended since the CORONA-19 Pandemic began. For the past 9 months, insurance companies have refused to pay fair or just compensation to victims of negligence, even in cases of clear liability, because Connecticut’s courts were closed to jury trial, and because Offers of Compromise by injured parties could be ignored due to the suspension of the law. Finally, as of December 15th, that situation has been rectified by the Governor’s order reinstating the effective time requirements of Connecticut’s Offer of Compromise statute. Ironically, the Governor actually allowed the Connecticut Judicial Branch to act sooner to end the Offer of Compromise moratorium, but the judiciary never acted.
