Denby v. Commissioner, Department of Income Maintenance

502 A.2d 954, 6 Conn. App. 47, 1986 Conn. App. LEXIS 807
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJanuary 14, 1986
Docket3737
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 502 A.2d 954 (Denby v. Commissioner, Department of Income Maintenance) 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
Denby v. Commissioner, Department of Income Maintenance, 502 A.2d 954, 6 Conn. App. 47, 1986 Conn. App. LEXIS 807 (Colo. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

Borden, J.

The defendant, the commissioner of the department of income maintenance (DIM), appeals from the trial court’s judgment reversing a DIM fair hearing officer’s decision to uphold DIM’s proposal to discontinue the plaintiff’s benefits under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program. There are three interrelated issues in this appeal. The first issue is whether the trial court erroneously substituted its judgment for that of the fair hearing officer. The second issue is whether the officer’s decision was erroneous on grounds other than those found by the trial court. The third issue involves a determination of the proper remedy when error is found. We find that both the trial court and the officer erred, and we remand for further proceedings.

DIM granted AFDC benefits to the plaintiff effective September 30, 1982. Shortly thereafter, DIM [49]*49learned that the plaintiff held legal title to a 1978 automobile the value of which exceeded the maximum eligibility limit of $1500. DIM therefore sent a notice of discontinuance of benefits to the plaintiff proposing termination of her benefits due to excess assets. The plaintiff made a timely request for a fair hearing pursuant to General Statutes § 17-2a, and DIM continued her benefits pending the decision.

The DIM officer held a hearing which included presentation of testimonial and documentary evidence. There was evidence that the title to the car was in the plaintiff’s name. The plaintiff, however, did not declare ownership of the car when she applied for benefits, although this asset was worth $6075 as of the date of the hearing, which was approximately three months after the date she was granted benefits. The plaintiff’s mother testified that she purchased the car in 1978. The mother further testified that she paid for the car in full but that the only receipt for this purchase remaining, after a house fire, was the receipt for the down-payment. Both the plaintiff and her mother testified that the car was not a gift to the plaintiff. Both considered the car to be the mother’s property and testified that, if sold, the mother would receive the proceeds from the sale. They also testified that the plaintiff was eighteen years old when the car was purchased, that the plaintiff did not then have a driver’s license and that she did not obtain a license to drive until March 30, 1982, approximately four years later. The mother testified that the plaintiff did not know how to drive when the car was purchased. The officer received into evidence copies of personal checks as receipts for payments made by the mother for auto repairs and insurance. The insurance was purchased in the plaintiff’s name. One of these personal checks bears the memo “Carlet Denby,” and one indicates “Car Insurance.”

[50]*50According to the mother’s testimony, the reason for placing legal title in the plaintiff’s name was to avoid a potential judgment creditor in a lawsuit then pending against the mother. The officer received into evidence a copy of the complaint filed against the mother and a copy of the satisfaction of judgment dated October 12, 1981. The mother testified that she and the plaintiff had agreed that the plaintiff would transfer title after the judgment was satisfied in 1981. The plaintiff twice attempted to fill out and file the title transfer forms, but misspelled her mother’s name on the first form. On the second form, she listed herself as lien-holder. The plaintiff testified that she submitted the registration plates to the department of motor vehicles and produced a receipt as additional proof. She stated that she had done everything she was told to do in order to transfer title, and that she did not declare ownership of the car in her 1982 AFDC application because she believed that she had effectively transferred title to her mother. The mother testified that because the car was in disrepair, she did not file the title transfer form with the department of motor vehicles.

The plaintiff argued that this evidence supports the conclusion that the plaintiff held title to the car in a resulting trust for her mother. In his memorandum of decision, the fair hearing officer rejected this argument because “[ljegal title rests with the [plaintiff], the value of the automobile is clearly in excess of departmental policy and the policy and law do not provide for disregard of the [plaintiff’s] ownership of an automobile except after a transfer.” He concluded that “[without such conclusive proof as evidence of the mother’s purchase and without the option in [DIM] policy to disregard legal title of an automobile in favor of a claim of non-ownership, the [DIM’s] action . . . is upheld.” With regard to the evidence of the plaintiff’s attempts [51]*51to transfer title, the officer found the documents to be “suspect, incorrectly completed and not filed with the [department of motor vehicles].” He added the observation that “[e]ven if the documents were considered to have accomplished a transfer of ownership, the [plaintiff] is listed as lien holder on the vehicle.”

Aggrieved by this decision, the plaintiff appealed to the Superior Court pursuant to General Statutes § 4-183. The trial court concluded that “[i]n view of the totality of the evidence presented, the court does not consider this automobile to have been intended as a gift to the [plaintiff], and accordingly the appeal is sustained.” The court then remanded the case to DIM, indicating that further proceedings were not mandated but directing DIM to continue the plaintiffs AFDC benefits.

Our disposition of the parties’ claims in this appeal requires a three-tiered inquiry. We must first decide whether the trial court erred in its determination that the officer’s decision was erroneous. Next, assuming that the trial court erred, we must decide whether the officer’s decision is erroneous on other grounds.1 If we find error in the officer’s decision, we must then decide whether the trial court erred in remanding the matter to DIM with direction to continue the plaintiff’s AFDC benefits, rather than remanding the matter to the officer for further proceedings.

I

General Statutes § 4-183 (g) prohibits the trial court from substituting its judgment for that of the agency. [52]*52This general principle of limited review of administrative agency findings is well established but, nevertheless, often litigated. See, e.g., Poll v. Administrator, 5 Conn. App. 391, 498 A.2d 142 (1985); Todd v. Administrator, 5 Conn. App. 309, 497 A.2d 1035 (1985); Ruhl v. Fairfield, 5 Conn. App. 104, 496 A.2d 994 (1985); Rivera v. Administrator, 4 Conn. App. 617, 495 A.2d 1125 (1985). The trial court found that “the mother was in fact the equitable owner” and that the automobile was not “intended as a gift” to the plaintiff. (Emphasis added.) Accordingly, the court concluded that “a resulting trust may be inferred” from those findings.

“ ‘ “[T]he Superior Court does not try the matter de novo; it is not its function to adjudicate questions of fact, nor may it substitute its own conclusions for those of the [officer].” ’

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Bluebook (online)
502 A.2d 954, 6 Conn. App. 47, 1986 Conn. App. LEXIS 807, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/denby-v-commissioner-department-of-income-maintenance-connappct-1986.