City of Bridgeport v. White Eagle's Society of Brotherly Help, Inc.

59 A.3d 859, 140 Conn. App. 663, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 67
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedFebruary 12, 2013
DocketAC 33977
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 59 A.3d 859 (City of Bridgeport v. White Eagle's Society of Brotherly Help, Inc.) 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
City of Bridgeport v. White Eagle's Society of Brotherly Help, Inc., 59 A.3d 859, 140 Conn. App. 663, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 67 (Colo. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Opinion

ROBINSON, J.

The defendant White Eagle’s Society of Brotherly Help, Inc.,1 appeals from the summary judgment rendered by the trial court on its counterclaim brought against the plaintiff, the city of Bridgeport, to enforce a stipulated judgment rendered in a prior action. The defendant claims that the court improperly [665]*665determined that there were no genuine issues of material fact and granted the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment as a matter of law on the ground that the counterclaim was barred because the defendant had failed to avail itself of statutory remedies available pursuant to General Statutes § § 12-111 or 12-119.2 We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following undisputed facts and procedural history. The defendant is the record owner of several parcels of real property located in Bridgeport, including two parcels described as 695 East Washington Avenue and 617-621 East Washington Avenue (subject properties).3 In 2002, the parties entered into a stipulated judgment, in which they agreed to settle an action arising from the defendant’s failure to pay property taxes for various real estate holdings, including the subject properties, for the years 1996 through 2000. The stipulated judgment provided that the defendant was entitled to a 40 percent tax exemption for [666]*666the years at issue in the action,4 thereby reducing the amount of back taxes it owed to the plaintiff. The judgment further provided that the defendant would pay its back taxes in quarterly installments over a period of five years. Finally, the judgment provided that the 40 percent exemption would “remain in place so long as the same use of the property is maintained . . . .”

In February, 2007, the plaintiff commenced this action to foreclose on new tax hens resulting from the defendant’s alleged nonpayment of property taxes for the subject properties as assessed on the October 1, 2004 grand list. The defendant filed an answer and special defenses, in which it alleged that it had paid all applicable taxes in accordance with the terms of the 2002 stipulated judgment and that the plaintiff was not taxing the defendant’s properties in accordance with that judgment.

On March 31,2009, the defendant filed a counterclaim in the foreclosure action, which restated its allegations that the plaintiff “has failed to comply with the [2002] stipulated judgment and ha[s] proceeded to file tax hens on the . . . [defendant’s] properties and ha[s] failed to properly apply the agreed upon tax exemption.” By way of relief, the counterclaim sought an order requiring the plaintiff to comply with the terms of the stipulated judgment. See Bank of Boston Connecticut v. DeGroff 31 Conn. App. 253, 256, 624 A.2d 904 (1993) (court has power to issue orders necessary to protect integrity of stipulated judgment). The plaintiff filed an answer [667]*667denying the allegations that it had faded to act in accordance with the stipulated judgment; the plaintiff raised no special defenses to the counterclaim.

According to the plaintiff, in December, 2009, the defendant paid its outstanding 2004 tax obligation. As a result, on January 26, 2010, the plaintiff withdrew its foreclosure complaint. The counterclaim, nevertheless, remained on the docket. See Practice Book § 10-66 (counterclaim survives withdrawal of underlying complaint); 98 Lords Highway, LLC v. One Hundred Lords Highway, LLC, 138 Conn. App. 776, 790, 54 A.3d 232 (2012) (same).

On June 1, 2011, the plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment as to the counterclaim, arguing that the counterclaim was barred as a matter of law because the defendant should have sought relief in a tax appeal pursuant to §§ 12-111 or 12-119. On October 6, 2011, the defendant filed an opposition to the motion for summary judgment, arguing that because it was seeking the enforcement of a stipulated judgment rather than directly challenging a tax assessment or the imposition of an illegal tax, its counterclaim was properly before the court. The court issued orders on October 12, 2011, granting the motion for summary judgment and overruling the objection.5 This appeal followed.

“Our standard of review is well established. Practice Book § 17-49 provides that summary judgment shall be [668]*668rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party. . . . The party moving for summary judgment has the burden of showing the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and that the party is, therefore, entitled to judgment as a matter of law. ... On appeal, we must determine whether the legal conclusions reached by the trial court are legally and logically correct and whether they find support in the facts set out in the memorandum of decision of the trial court. . . . Our review of the trial court’s decision to grant [a] . . . motion for summary judgment is plenary. . . .

“An appellate court’s review of a trial court decision is circumscribed by the appropriate standard of review. . . . When . . . the trial court draws conclusions of law, our review is plenary and we must decide whether its conclusions are legally and logically correct and find support in the facts that appear in the record.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) J.P. Alexandre, LLC v. Egbuna, 137 Conn. App. 340, 346-47, 49 A.3d 222, cert. denied, 307 Conn. 913, 53 A.3d 1000 (2012).

The defendant’s sole claim on appeal is that the court erred in rendering summary judgment on the ground that adjudication of the counterclaim was barred as a matter of law because the defendant should have raised its issues in a statutory action brought pursuant to § § 12-111 or 12-119. The defendant argues that the plaintiff failed to raise that ground as a special defense and, therefore, the court should not have considered the argument. The defendant also argues that because the counterclaim did not directly challenge a tax assessment or the imposition of an illegal tax, but rather [669]*669sought to enforce the parties’ 2002 stipulated judgment, the case law relied on by the plaintiff in its motion for summary judgment and by the trial court was inapplicable. We decline to address the first argument because it was never raised to the trial court and are not persuaded by the second argument.

The defendant first argues that summary judgment was inappropriate because the plaintiff failed to raise by way of a special defense its theory that the counterclaim should be barred on the basis of the availability of other statutory remedies. The defendant, however, never raised its special defense argument in its opposition to the motion for summary judgment or at oral argument on the motion for summary judgment. We will not consider on appeal an argument that was never raised to or considered by the trial court. See Pelletier v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
59 A.3d 859, 140 Conn. App. 663, 2013 Conn. App. LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/city-of-bridgeport-v-white-eagles-society-of-brotherly-help-inc-connappct-2013.