LaSALLE BANK, NAT. ASS'N v. Bialobrzeski

3 A.3d 176, 123 Conn. App. 781
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedSeptember 21, 2010
Docket30911
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 3 A.3d 176 (LaSALLE BANK, NAT. ASS'N v. Bialobrzeski) 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
LaSALLE BANK, NAT. ASS'N v. Bialobrzeski, 3 A.3d 176, 123 Conn. App. 781 (Colo. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

3 A.3d 176 (2010)
123 Conn.App. 781

LaSALLE BANK, NATIONAL ASSOCIATION (Trustee)
v.
Paul S. BIALOBRZESKI et al.

No. 30911.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued January 13, 2010.
Decided September 21, 2010.

*178 Paul S. Bialobrzeski, pro se, the appellant (defendant).

Andrew P. Barsom, Hartford, for the appellee (plaintiff).

FLYNN, C.J., and BISHOP and ROBINSON, Js.[*]

ROBINSON, J.

The pro se defendant Paul S. Bialobrzeski[1] appeals from the judgment of strict foreclosure rendered in favor of the plaintiff, LaSalle Bank, National Association, as trustee for WMABS Series 2006-HE2 Trust.[2] On appeal, the defendant claims that it was improper for the trial court to deny his motion to dismiss the action because the plaintiff lacked standing. Because the record is devoid of a factual finding as to when the plaintiff acquired the note, we are unable to review the claim as to the court's subject matter jurisdiction. See Practice Book §§ 60-5 and 61-10. We, therefore, reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the case for further proceedings.

The following procedural history is relevant to the defendant's appeal. On October 29, 2007, the plaintiff caused a writ of summons and complaint to be served on the defendant to foreclose the mortgage on real property at 121 Colonial Avenue in Middlebury. The defendant filed a pro se appearance on November 16, 2007. On December 14, 2007, the defendant filed an answer to the complaint in which he admitted that (1) he owned the real property at 121 Colonial Avenue in Middlebury, (2) on March 16, 2006, he executed and delivered to Long Beach Mortgage Corporation a note in the original principal amount of $350,000, and (3) he was the owner of the equity of redemption in the property and was in possession of the property. As to the remaining counts of the complaint, the defendant left the plaintiff to its proof. On that same date, the defendant filed a motion for a continuance in order to retain counsel to defend against the motion for a judgment of strict foreclosure that had been filed by the plaintiff.

On January 24, 2008, the plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment as to the defendant's liability and attached his answer; an affidavit of Peter Read, an assistant *179 vice president of Washington Mutual Bank, attesting that the plaintiff was the owner of the note and mortgage,[3] and that the debt was in default and the balance due; and copies of the note,[4] mortgage, assignment of the mortgage[5] and notice of intent to accelerate. The court granted the motion for summary judgment as to liability on February 11, 2008, noting that the motion had been unopposed.[6] Thereafter the defendant retained counsel, who filed a motion for permission to amend the defendant's answer and to allege special defenses. The first proposed special defense alleged that the assignment of the mortgage from Long Beach Mortgage Company to LaSalle Bank was executed subsequent to the commencement of the action. The second proposed special defense alleged that Washington Mutual Bank allegedly mailed a notice of intent to accelerate to the defendant on May 6, 2007, and on that date the owner of the note and mortgage was Long Beach Mortgage Company and that Washington Mutual Bank lacked authority to act on behalf of Long Beach Mortgage Company. Moreover, the defendant alleged that the notice of intent to accelerate was void and the plaintiff is not entitled to a judgment of foreclosure.[7] The plaintiff objected to the defendant's motion for permission to amend his answer and to file special defenses.[8]

On March 20, 2008, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss the action. In his memorandum of law in support of his motion to dismiss, the defendant stated that the action was filed on November 1, 2007, but the subject mortgage was assigned to the plaintiff on November 27, 2007, and therefore the plaintiff was not the owner of the mortgage on the date the action was commenced and lacked standing to bring it. The plaintiff objected to the motion to dismiss and argued that it was in possession of the subject note and mortgage at the time the action was commenced and that the court could take notice of the endorsement of the note by Long Beach Mortgage Company.[9] The plaintiff also cited General Statutes § 49-17 for the proposition that the statute provides an avenue for the holder of a note to obtain a judgment of foreclosure on the accompanying mortgage deed even if it had not been or never was formally assigned. On March 31, 2008, the defendant filed a supplemental memorandum of law in support of his motion to dismiss in which he contended *180 that the burden was on the plaintiff to demonstrate that it possessed the note on the date the action was commenced and that the operation of § 49-17 does not provide proof of when the plaintiff came into possession of the note.[10]

On January 5, 2009, the court sustained the plaintiff's objection to the motion to dismiss stating that "[t]he issue is moot, as the court has already ruled on the summary judgment motion."[11] On March 2, 2009, the court rendered judgment of strict foreclosure and set the law day as July 28, 2009. The defendant appealed, claiming that it was improper for the court to deny his motion to dismiss because the plaintiff did not own either the note or the mortgage at the time it commenced the action and, thus, lacked standing, thereby depriving the court of subject matter jurisdiction.[12]

The standard of review applicable to a motion to dismiss is well established. "A motion to dismiss ... properly attacks the jurisdiction of the court, essentially asserting that the plaintiff cannot as a matter of law and fact state a cause of action that should be heard by the court.... [O]ur review of the trial court's ultimate legal conclusion and resulting [denial] of the motion to dismiss will be de novo.... Factual findings underlying the court's decision, however, will not be disturbed unless they are clearly erroneous.... The applicable standard of review for the denial of a motion to dismiss, therefore, generally turns on whether the appellant seeks to challenge the legal conclusions of the trial court or its factual determinations." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Bonner, 290 Conn. 468, 477-78, 964 A.2d 73 (2009).

We first look to the relevant allegations of the plaintiff's complaint. At paragraph 4, the plaintiff alleged, in part: "The [p]laintiff, LaSalle Bank, National Association as trustee for WMABS Series 2006-HE2 Trust, is the holder of said Note and Mortgage." In answering the complaint, the defendant left the plaintiff to its proof as to that allegation. When the plaintiff filed its motion for summary judgment on January 24, 2008, it attached copies of the subject note and mortgage and an assignment of the mortgage. At the time the court granted the motion for summary judgment as to liability, it noted that the motion had been unopposed. The defendant did not file a motion for reargument but sought to amend his answer to include *181 a special defense that the plaintiff did not own the mortgage at the time the action was commenced. The defendant also filed a motion to dismiss the action.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
3 A.3d 176, 123 Conn. App. 781, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lasalle-bank-nat-assn-v-bialobrzeski-connappct-2010.