Advance Release Opinions – June 22

Reviews of Connecticut Appellate Court advance release opinions about administrative law, breach of contract, eviction, and mortgage foreclosure.

Administrative Law

Gianetti v. Dunsby – Town ordinance gave tax relief to the elderly who applied to the assessor and met certain criteria. Assessor denied Gianetti’s application, and Board of Selectman denied his appeal. Gianetti then sued selectman individually for improperly denying his application. Selectman moved to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction because nothing authorized Gianetti to appeal the Board’s decision to the Superior Court. Trial court denied the motion. Appellate Court reversed, finding that Gianetti’s action was really an administrative appeal and there was no statute permitting him to appeal the matter to the Superior Court.

Breach of Contract

Emeritus Senior Living v. Lepore – Daughter signed a senior living agreement as her mother’s representative. The agreement made daughter and mother jointly liable for services. Emeritus sued daughter to collect payment for services rendered. Trial court found the agreement unconscionable and against public policy, and denied Emeritus any relief. Appellate Court reversed, concluding that the record did not support either of the trial court’s findings.

Eviction

Federal National Mortgage Association v. Farina – Farina claimed that Fannie Mae lacked standing to evict him because it never took title to the property in the underlying foreclosure. More specifically, Farina claimed that his appeal of the trial’s court’s denial of his third motion to open the foreclosure judgment invoked the appellate stay, rendering the law date ineffective, and Fannie Mae had never reset the law date after Appellate Court had dismissed his appeal as moot. Trial court agreed, and granted Farina’s motion to dismiss the eviction action. Appellate Court reversed, explaining that it had dismissed the prior appeal as moot because Farina had not complied with Practice Book § 61-11(g), which was necessary to invoke the appellate stay for an appeal of a third denial of a motion to open. Since Farina never petitioned for certification of that dismissal, it became a final judgment and was not subject to collateral attack in the eviction action.

Kargul v. Smith – Yawn. After serving notice to quit, Kargul started and then withdrew a summary process action. Kargul served a second notice to quit and started a second summary process action. The second action ended with a stipulated judgment, which Smith later violated. On Kargul’s application, trial court ordered that execution could issue immediately. Smith appealed, claiming that the first notice to quit terminated the tenancy, thus depriving the trial court of jurisdiction to entertain the second summary process action. Appellate Court affirmed because Kargul’s withdrawal of the first summary process action put the parties back to square one.

Mortgage Foreclosure

Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Trustee v. Fraboni – A late-filed appeal does not invoke, or revive, the appellate stay in a noncriminal case.