972 A.2d 724 (2009)
292 Conn. 364
Heather K. MACHADO
v.
CITY OF HARTFORD.
No. 18224.
Supreme Court of Connecticut.
Argued December 4, 2008.
Decided July 7, 2009.
*727 Lori Mizerak, assistant corporation counsel, with whom was Jonathan H. Beamon, assistant corporation counsel, for the appellant (defendant).
Neil Johnson, Hartford, for the appellee (plaintiff).
Richard A. Bieder, Cynthia C. Bott and Joram Hirsch, Bridgeport, filed a brief for the Connecticut Trial Lawyers Association as amicus curiae.
NORCOTT, KATZ, PALMER, VERTEFEUILLE and ZARELLA, Js.
NORCOTT, J.
In this appeal, we consider whether a municipality may be held liable under General Statutes § 13a-149[1] for injuries caused by a highway defect created by the negligence of a third party contractor hired by the municipality to repair the highway. The defendant, the city of Hartford, appeals[2] from the judgment of the trial court awarding damages to the plaintiff, Heather K. Machado, for injuries and property damage sustained in a car accident caused by a defective roadway at the intersection of Park Street and Hudson Street in Hartford. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly concluded that the defendant was liable under § 13a-149 because: (1) the defendant was not the party bound to keep the roadway in repair; and (2) the plaintiff's injuries were caused by the negligence of USA Contractors, Inc. (USA), an independent contractor, and, therefore, any negligence on the part of the defendant was not the sole proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries. We disagree and, accordingly, affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The record reveals the following relevant facts and procedural history. On the night of October 7, 2006, the plaintiff was driving home from Hartford Hospital, where she was employed as a nurse. As she approached the intersection of Park Street and Hudson Street in Hartford, the plaintiff hit a large depression in the roadway that had developed as a result of road repair work being performed by USA. The collision caused the plaintiff's car to become airborne and land on an exposed manhole cover projecting six to eight inches above the roadway surface. The resulting impact caused significant damage to the plaintiff's car and injuries to her arms and upper body.
The plaintiff brought the present action against the defendant in small claims court, and the defendant thereafter transferred the matter to the regular docket of the Superior Court. The plaintiff subsequently filed a revised complaint alleging that, pursuant to § 13a-149, the defendant was liable for the plaintiff's injuries because the defendant, its employees or agents negligently had failed to: (1) smooth the roadway during construction; (2) warn of the construction; (3) light the construction area; and (4) reroute traffic. The defendant filed an answer and special defense, asserting that USA was the party responsible for the defective road, and that *728 USA was a proper party to the action and had to defend and indemnify the defendant.[3] Despite submitting this special defense, however, the defendant did not join USA as a third party defendant on the basis of its belief that it was precluded from doing so by this court's decision in Smith v. New Haven, 258 Conn. 56, 60, 779 A.2d 104 (2001).
The case subsequently was tried to the court on December 19, 2007. Following the plaintiff's submission of evidence, the defendant moved to dismiss the case on the grounds, inter alia, that: (1) the plaintiff was required to prove that the defendant was the party bound to keep the construction site in repair in order to proceed under § 13a-149, and she had neither alleged that that was the case in her complaint nor presented any evidence to that effect at trial; and (2) the plaintiff was contributorily negligent for failing to avoid the depression in the roadway and, therefore, the defendant's negligence could not have been the sole proximate cause of the plaintiff's injuries. The trial court denied the defendant's motion, taking judicial notice of the fact that the defendant owned the streets and was charged with their repair and maintenance. The court also concluded that, unless the defendant's evidence was to the contrary, the defendant was solely responsible for the plaintiff's injuries because "the negligence was committed by [USA], which is an agent of the [defendant]."
The defendant subsequently presented its case, primarily consisting of the testimony of James Paggioli, a survey supervisor employed by the defendant, who testified that the repair work had been performed by USA, that USA had had control over the manner and means of performing that work, and that, pursuant to the construction contract between USA and the defendant, USA had the duty to protect the public and maintain a safe work site during the construction process. Thereafter, the trial court rendered an oral decision in favor of the plaintiff, concluding that the roadway was defective,