AGO 1990-024.

• Case Date: June 28, 1990
• Court: Connecticut

Connecticut Attorney General Opinions 1990. AGO 1990-024. June 28, 1990Opinion No. 1990-024Mr. John C. FordAdministratorCommission on Victim Services1155 Silas Deane HighwayWethersfield, CT 06109 Dear Mr. Ford: You have asked for our opinion whether the provisions of 1987 Conn. Pub. Acts No. 87-554, Sec. 10.(c), now Conn. Gen. Stat. e§54-211(c), should be applied retroactively to a claim which arose prior to the effective date of the act. A review of the Commission file in the matter of Irma Cruz, claim no. 877-87D, reveals the following pertinent information. On December 9, 1987, Ms. Cruz, mother of the decedent Jose A. Rolon, Jr., filed an application for compensation with the Commission pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. e§54-204. The decedent had died of multiple gunshot wounds on or about January 7, 1987. The date of the decedent's death is the point in time in which the decedent became a "victim" as defined in Conn. Gen. Stat. e§54-201(1) and became eligible for compensation. At the time of the decedent's death, Conn. Gen. Stat. e§54-211(c) provided that "[n]o compensation shall be awarded for the first hundred dollars of injury sustained and no such compensation shall be in an amount in excess of ten thousand dollars...." However, the Legislature, through the enactment of 1987 Conn. Pub. Acts No. 87-554, Sec. 10.(c), made numerous changes to the aforementioned statutory provision. These amendments became effective on October 1, 1987. The changes included increasing the maximum amount of an award in non-homicide crimes from ten thousand to fifteen thousand dollars. In addition, in the case of awards to dependents of homicide victims, benefits were increased to a maximum of twenty-five thousand dollars. The statutory revision also provided that "[t]he claims of the dependents of a deceased victim, ... shall be considered derivative of the claim of such victim and the total for all claims arising from the death of such victim shall not exceed a maximum of twenty-five thousand dollars." It is the position of the applicant that 1987 Conn. Pub. Acts No. 87-554, e 10(c) should be applied to the claim, thereby making available a maximum award of twenty-five thousand dollars rather than ten thousand dollars. We believe this position would require a retroactive application of the Public Act. In our judgment, because 1987 Conn. Pub...