Known as one of the Connecticut Supreme Court's most prolific dissenters, those who knew former Justice Robert Berdon said his style was often uncompromising, but that he was independent and fair-minded, and will have a legacy as one the court's most principled liberal jurists.

Berdon, who served on the Connecticut Supreme Court from 1991 until he reached the mandatory retirement age of 70 in 1999, was 89 when he died Oct. 31.

From fellow justices who served with him to those who knew him or appeared before him, there was a consensus that Berdon, who served as a Superior Court judge for about 20 years prior to joining the high court, had his own distinct style. While he wrote 433 dissenting opinions and just 135 majority opinions on the high court, current Supreme Court Justice Richard Palmer said Berdon "was a man of principle who was unafraid to disagree."

Palmer, who had his fair share of disagreements on the bench with Berdon, said, "It was sometimes frustrating to deal with Bob because he was often uncompromising. I think it was also frustrating for him to be in the minority so often."

But, Palmer, a justice since 1993, said, "He often pushed the court during his tenure to examine carefully the cases in which he dissented. When a majority has to come to grips with a thoroughly and carefully researched dissent, it can make the majority opinion that much better by responding with issues the dissent raises."

With regard to his widely known dissents, former Supreme Court Justice Joette Katz, who served with Berdon from 1992 to 1999, said, "While I think his legacy is that he really could not compromise, it was not a question of his way or the highway. It was that he really felt about  things so deeply and passionately that he was incapable of modifying his views. He felt that there was a human being behind every case, a litigant behind every case and that they were all important."

It would not be unusual to find a Berdon dissent become law years or even decades later, Palmer said.

Berdon was the dissenting justice in Mendillo v. Board of Education of the Town of East Haddam in 1998, a case in which Berdon sided with the family in a parental consortium case. In 2015, Palmer said, he wrote the majority opinion in Campos v. Coleman. "We overruled our majority opinion in Mendillo, where Bob's dissent ultimately carried the day."

Former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Berdon. Former state Supreme Court Justice Robert Berdon. Courtesy photo

In Campos, Palmer said, the justices ruled that the child and spouse of a man apparently negligently killed when a motorist struck the bike he was riding could claim loss of parental consortium. "We recognized a cause of action in some circumstances," Palmer said.

Longtime New Haven defense attorney John Williams said Berdon, whose rulings often sided with defendants in criminal matters and plaintiffs in civil cases, "absolutely had influence on the bench. His dissents were, at times acerbic, but he could also be very persuasive. The brilliance of his intellect was unchallenged."

Williams said he believes Berdon, who wrote the 1997 5-2 majority in State v. Joyce, helped persuade his colleagues to side against a warrantless search the police conducted.

Williams, who represented Wallace Joyce, said Berdon was "the most active questioner during oral arguments and he was a persuasive force for brand new law."

At issue, Williams said, was Joyce, who was suspected of arson. He was at the fire scene and was badly burned. His clothes were cut off and those clothes were taken into police custody. Later, with a suspicion of arson surrounding Joyce, police did forensic testing on the clothes without a search warrant.

"The police had a duty, under the state constitution, to get a warrant and therefore, the conviction was reversed," Williams said.

Former Chief Disciplinary Counsel Mark Dubois remembered Berdon for his role with the Berdon Commission, which was formed the year after Berdon left the bench. The Berdon Commission, of which both Berdon and Dubois were members, helped create the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel.

"Bob was the visionary for the Office of Chief Disciplinary Counsel," said Dubois, who was the state's very first chief disciplinary counsel. "He understood the challenges of practicing lawyers and he wanted to make the system work for everyone."

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