Bonito v. Bonito

59 A.3d 882, 140 Conn. App. 697, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 70
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 12, 2013
DocketAC 33307
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 59 A.3d 882 (Bonito v. Bonito) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bonito v. Bonito, 59 A.3d 882, 140 Conn. App. 697, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 70 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion

ESPINOSA, J.

In this marital dissolution action, the defendant, Dominick Bonito, appeals from the judgment of the trial court. The court dissolved the marriage between the defendant and the plaintiff, Susan Bonito, and entered various financial orders, as well as orders [699]*699related to the custody of the parties’ three minor children. The defendant claims that the court (1) was without jurisdiction to render judgment because it failed to render its decision within 120 days following the completion of the trial and (2) abused its discretion by way of its various financial orders that, the defendant asserts, unfairly favored the plaintiff. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The plaintiff filed for divorce in September, 2008. In its memorandum of decision of January 18, 2011, the court determined that the parties’ marriage, which began in August, 1993, had broken down irretrievably. The court found that “fault restfed] wholly and squarely on [the defendant’s] shoulders” and that “he was essentially a despot in his home and if his wife or children dared to cross him they would pay dearly.” The court dissolved the marriage, awarded sole legal and physical custody of the parties’ children to the plaintiff, ordered the defendant to pay child support and alimony and entered other financial orders including those related to the family home, retirement assets, debts and insurance. This appeal followed.1 Additional facts will be set forth as necessary.

I

First, the defendant claims that the court was without jurisdiction to render judgment because it failed to render its decision within 120 days following the completion of the trial. We disagree.

The record discloses the following additional relevant facts. The trial occurred over several days between July 12 and August 23, 2010. On August 23, 2010, following [700]*700the presentation of evidence, the parties made closing arguments in lieu of filing written memoranda.

On September 1, 2010, the plaintiff filed an “Ex Parte Emergency Motion for Hearing to Open Evidence.” In the motion, the plaintiff represented that, during the trial, Thomas A. Esposito, the guardian ad litem for the parties’ children, recommended that the defendant be afforded the right to unsupervised nontherapeutic visits with the parties’ youngest child, R. The plaintiff represented that “since the date of the close of evidence, a serious and significant event occurred during the defendant’s visitation with said minor child” and, consequently, Esposito had altered his recommendation regarding the defendant’s visitation rights with R. By way of relief, the plaintiff asked the court to “order an immediate hearing regarding said incident [and] the guardian ad litem’s revised recommendations . . . .”

In conjunction with the motion to open the evidence, the plaintiff submitted an affidavit from Esposito, who set forth certain facts that he had learned concerning an unsupervised visit between the defendant and R on August 29, 2010. Specifically, Esposito learned that, during the unsupervised visit, the defendant did not share information with the plaintiff with regard to the time at which he would return to the family home with R. Later in the day, while the plaintiff was out shopping, the defendant compelled R to tell the plaintiff over the telephone that he was locked outside of the family home alone. Believing that R had been left unsupervised and concerned for R’s welfare, the plaintiff contacted the police. The plaintiff returned home and found R, the defendant and the police in the driveway. R later told a police officer that the defendant told him to lie to the plaintiff about being left alone so that she would drive home quickly. The record reflects that R was eleven years old in August, 2010, and had special needs.

[701]*701The court held an evidentiary hearing on September 29, 2010, related to the plaintiffs motion to open the evidence. The parties, represented by counsel, appeared at the hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court found that the defendant told R to lie to the plaintiff on August 29, 2010, and that R lied to the plaintiff in the defendant’s presence. The court found that the defendant’s actions were part of a larger pattern of destructive conduct that was motivated by his desire to retaliate against the plaintiff. The court found that the defendant’s conduct was a detriment to R. Immediately, the court terminated the defendant’s visitation rights with R.

The court issued its final decision in the dissolution action on January 18, 2011, 111 days following the evi-dentiary hearing of September 29, 2010. Its decision encompassed many issues relating to the parties, including the defendant’s visitation rights with the parties’ children. In its decision, the court made findings with regard to the incident that occurred on August 29, 2010, concerning R. Moreover, the court granted the plaintiff sole legal and physical custody of the parties’ children and did not afford the defendant any visitation rights with regard to the children.

On February 3, 2011, the defendant filed a “Notice of Objection to the Past Due Judgment,” in which he argued that the trial ended on August 23,2010, the court did not render a decision within 120 days of that date and, consequently, a new trial was warranted under General Statutes § 51-183b. The defendant argued that the court was without jurisdiction to render judgment on January 18, 2011. The court denied the motion on March 18, 2011. With regard to the court’s jurisdiction to render judgment on January 18, 2011, the defendant advances the arguments he raised before the trial court.

General Statutes § 51-183b provides: “Any judge of the Superior Court and any judge trial referee who has [702]*702the power to render judgment, who has commenced the trial of any civil cause, shall have power to continue such trial and shall render judgment not later than one hundred and twenty days from the completion date of the trial of such civil cause. The parties may waive the provisions of this section.” “[T]he defect in a late judgment is that it implicates the trial court’s power to continue to exercise jurisdiction over the parties before it. . . . Absent waiver of the provisions of the statute, a judgment rendered by a court beyond the time period permitted by § 51-183b, lacks personal jurisdiction over the [parties]. . . . Even after the expiration of the time period within which a judge has the power to render a valid, binding judgment, a court continues to have jurisdiction over the parties until and unless they object.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Gumpert v. Ore-Ida Foods, Inc., 39 Conn. App. 635, 640-41, 666 A.2d 437 (1995). “[The parties’ consent to a late judgment] may be implied from the conduct of the parties or their attorneys, in proceeding without objection with the trial or argument of the case, in remaining silent until the judgment has been rendered or in failing to object seasonably after the filing of the decision.” Rowe v. Goulet, 89 Conn. App. 836, 845, 875 A.2d 564 (2005).

Here, the defendant seasonably objected to the court’s judgment. The facts surrounding the issue are undisputed and are evident from our review of the record.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 A.3d 882, 140 Conn. App. 697, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bonito-v-bonito-connappct-2013.