D'Ulisse-Cupo v. Bd. of Dir. of Notre Dame High School

Maria D’Ulisse-Cupo (plaintiff) taught courses in Spanish and Italian at Notre Dame High School under a fixed-term employment contract. When D’Ulisse-Cupo was nearing the end of her term, her principal and another school official communicated to her three times, in March and April 1983, that she would be rehired for the next school year. However, in May, D’Ulisse-Cupo was informed that she would not be rehired because of staff cutbacks in several departments necessitated by low student enrollment. D’Ulisse-Cupo alleged that principal George Schmitz (defendant) then told her that he would try to find another position for her so that she would not be discharged. However, Schmitz hired an outsider to fill a position teaching English for which D’Ulisse-Cupo interviewed, and he did not hire D’Ulisse-Cupo for any substitute-teacher positions either. D’Ulisse-Cupo sued the principal and the board of directors of Notre Dame High School (the board) (defendant) for two breach-of-contract claims and for the tort claim of negligent misrepresentation. A trial court ruled against D’Ulisse-Cupo, granting the board’s motion to strike each cause of action for failure to state a claim. An appellate court reversed, ruling that each claim should proceed. The Connecticut Supreme Court granted review and agreed that the contract claims should be dismissed. Regarding the tort claim for negligent misrepresentation, D’Ulisse-Cupo alleged that she detrimentally relied on the defendants’ representations. The board argued that the negligent-misrepresentation claim should be stricken because D’Ulisse-Cupo had failed to allege that the board neglected to use reasonable care in providing information.