DiPENTIMA, C. J.
The defendant, Richard A. Koslik, appeals from the judgment of conviction, rendered after a jury trial, of two counts of offering to make home improvements without having a current certificate of registration and one count of making home improvements without having a current certificate of registration in violation of General Statutes § 20-427(b)(5).
In July and August, 2006, the defendant removed countertops, installed the kitchen sink and faucet, installed a garden window and installed flooring for Harvey. Harvey believed that the defendant was her contractor. At some point, Harvey became dissatisfied with the work that was done, and she filed a claim for damages with the department of consumer protection (department).
On appeal, the defendant claims that the court erred in various instructions to the jury. Specifically, the defendant argues that the court (1) failed to instruct the jury that, because he was a subcontractor or working under a contractor,
We first set forth the applicable standard of review. "When reviewing [a] challenged jury instruction ... we must adhere to the well settled rule that a charge to the jury is to be considered in its entirety, read as a whole, and judged by its total effect rather than by its individual component parts.... [T]he test of a court's charge is not whether it is as accurate upon legal principles as the opinions of a court of last resort but whether it fairly presents the case to the jury in such a way that injustice is not done to either party under the established rules of law.... As long as [the instructions] are correct in law, adapted to the issues and sufficient for the guidance of the jury ... we will not view the instructions as improper." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Turner, 67 Conn.App. 519, 522, 787 A.2d 625 (2002).
The defendant's claims raise issues of statutory construction over which our review is plenary. "[O]ur fundamental objective is to ascertain and give effect to the apparent intent of the legislature.... In other words, we seek to determine, in a reasoned manner, the meaning of the statutory language as applied to the facts of [the] case, including the question of whether the language actually does apply.... In seeking to determine that meaning ... [General Statutes] § 1-2z directs us first to consider the text of the statute itself and its relationship to other statutes. If, after examining such text and considering such relationship, the meaning of such text is plain and unambiguous and does not yield absurd or unworkable results, extratextual evidence of the meaning of the statute shall not be considered.... When a statute is not plain and unambiguous, we also look for interpretive guidance to the legislative history and circumstances surrounding its enactment, to the legislative policy it was designed to implement, and to its relationship to existing legislation and common law principles governing the same general subject matter...." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Orr, 291 Conn. 642, 651, 969 A.2d 750 (2009).
We begin with the language of the relevant statute. Section 20-427(b)(5) provides that no person shall "offer to make or make any home improvement without having a current certificate of registration under this chapter...." The defendant argues that the court should have instructed the jury that if he did not make an offer to make home improvements as a contractor, he should be found not guilty. The plain language of § 20-427, however, provides that no person shall offer to make home improvements without having a current
The defendant argues that Meadows v. Higgins, 249 Conn. 155, 733 A.2d 172 (1999), exempts him from liability as a subcontractor. Even were we to assume that the defendant was acting as a subcontractor, Meadows is inapposite. Meadows involved a civil appeal from a judgment ordering the strict foreclosure of a mechanic's lien. Id. at 157, 733 A.2d 172. Moreover, in Meadows our Supreme Court construed General Statutes § 20-429(a), a provision of the Home Improvement Act (act), which provides in part that "[n]o home improvement contract shall be valid or enforceable against an owner unless it... (8) is entered into by a registered salesman or registered contractor...." The court concluded that liability under § 20-429(a) did not extend to subcontractors. Meadows v. Higgins, supra, at 166, 733 A.2d 172. Our Supreme Court agreed with this court's reasoning that because "salesmen" were included in the registration requirement of General Statutes § 20-420, it was "reasonable to assume that if the legislature had intended to include subcontractors within the registration requirement of the [act], it would have listed them as affected parties in § 20-420." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. at 165, 733 A.2d 172. Sections 20-420 and 20-429(a) are not at issue in this case. Here, § 20-427(b)(5) explicitly states no person shall offer to make or make home improvements without having a certificate of registration, and there is no language in this provision limiting its applicability to contractors.
Finally, the defendant argues that the court erred in charging that installing a kitchen sink and garden window was making home improvements. The defendant, citing Meadows, claims that § 20-427 does not apply "to an unregistered person who performs installation work." The court, in rejecting this claim at trial, stated that making home improvements does mean the "performance of work."
The court instructed the jury that, under General Statutes § 20-419(4), "home improvement" includes, but is not limited to, "repair, replacement, remodeling, alteration, conversion, modernization, improvement, rehabilitation or sandblasting of or addition to any land or building or that portion thereof which is used or designed to be used as a private residence, dwelling place, or residential property or the construction, replacement, installation or improvement of driveways, swimming pools, porches, garages, roofs, siding, [insulation], solar energy systems, flooring, patios, landscaping, fences, doors and windows, and waterproofing in connection with such land or building or that portion thereof which is used or designed to be used as a private residence, dwelling place, or residential property in which the total cash price for all work agreed upon between the contractor and owner exceeds $200." (Emphasis added.) The court's instructions were correct in law, adapted to the issues and sufficient for the guidance of the jury.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
We do not address these claims because they are inadequately briefed. "It is well settled that [w]e are not required to review claims that are inadequately briefed.... We consistently have held that [a]nalysis, rather than mere abstract assertion, is required in order to avoid abandoning an issue by failure to brief the issue properly.... [F]or this court judiciously and efficiently to consider claims of error raised on appeal ... the parties must clearly and fully set forth their arguments in their briefs." (Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Nowacki v. Nowacki, 129 Conn.App. 157, 163-64, 20 A.3d 702 (2011). The defendant's brief makes conclusory assertions without analysis in support of these claims.