Pastore LLC represents a co-founder of an investment firm in challenging a $10.4 million judgment in Connecticut superior court, arguing that the trial court improperly denied his right to a jury trial. The dispute centers on whether both parties had provided mutual written consent to a jury trial before the court unilaterally removed the case from the jury docket in February 2023. The plaintiffs, who initially sought a jury trial, later withdrew their claim and secured a bench trial verdict in August 2023.
Pastore LLC argued to the Connecticut appellate court in February that the trial court’s decision was both legally unprecedented and prejudicial, as it deprived the defendant of due process. The firm contends that the plaintiffs leveraged the procedural misstep to avoid a jury trial, after previously failing to secure a favorable outcome in federal court on similar claims, a jury trial won by Pastore in 2019.
The appeal remains under review by the Connecticut Appellate Court