Lind-Larsen v. Fleet National Bank

852 A.2d 799, 84 Conn. App. 1, 2004 Conn. App. LEXIS 312
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJuly 20, 2004
DocketAC 23503
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 852 A.2d 799 (Lind-Larsen v. Fleet National Bank) 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
Lind-Larsen v. Fleet National Bank, 852 A.2d 799, 84 Conn. App. 1, 2004 Conn. App. LEXIS 312 (Colo. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Opinion

FLYNN, J.

The plaintiff, Lisa Lind-Larsen,1 appeals from the summary judgment rendered by the trial court in favor of the defendants, Fleet National Bank of Connecticut and its subsidiary, GTT Corporation, (Fleet)2 and Ocwen Federal Bank, FSB (Ocwen). The court granted Fleet’s motion for summary judgment on the [4]*4ground that the respective statutes of limitation applicable to counts one through five of the plaintiffs complaint had expired and could not be resuscitated by the accidental failure of suit statute, General Statutes § 52-592. The court also found that counts six and seven of the plaintiffs complaint alleged against Fleet failed as a matter of law as a result of the plaintiffs lack of compliance with the terms of the parties’ stipulated judgment. As to the eighth and final count, the court granted Ocwen’s motion for summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiffs sole claim asserted against Ocwen was derivative of her claims against Fleet and, as such, the claim must also fail as a matter of law.

The plaintiff argues on appeal that the court improperly found that there were no genuine issues of material fact. Specifically, she argues that the court acted improperly in that (1) it declined to apply the accidental failure of suit statute to her claims, and, accordingly, improperly determined that the claims were not brought within the permissible statutory time periods, (2) it concluded that the payment deadline expressed in the stipulated judgment was not subject to an interpretation of the parties’ intent and (3) it found that thé claim against Ocwen failed because it was derivative of the claims against Fleet. We affirm the judgment of the trial court granting the defendants’ motions for summary judgment.

The facts and procedural history of this case weave an intricate and sometimes convoluted web, which we now attempt to untangle. The plaintiff refinanced her primary residence at 6-8 Packer Brook Road, Redding, in 1988 by granting a mortgage for $282,000 to Connecticut National Mortgage Company, the predecessor to Ocwen, dated April 7,1988, and recorded in volume 145 at page 407 of the Redding land records. The plaintiff’s complaint alleged that her purpose in obtaining the residential mortgage was to use the funds to develop [5]*5another property known as the “Sanford Homestead” (Homestead), located at 140 Black Rock Turnpike, Redding. The plaintiff also granted two commercial mortgages on the Homestead. These mortgages were to Gateway Bank (Gateway), dated July 16, 1986, and February 27,1987, and were respectively in the amount of $350,000, recorded on July 21, 1986, in volume 133, page 792, and in the amount of $57,000, recorded on March 2, 1987, in volume 138, page 486, of the Redding land records.

Connecticut National Mortgage Company assigned the mortgage on the plaintiffs home to Shawmut Bank, Connecticut, N.A. (Shawmut). Gateway brought an action to foreclose its two commercial mortgages on the Llomestead due to the plaintiffs delinquency in making payments. A year later, Shawmut acquired these mortgages from Gateway and became the substituted plaintiff in the foreclosure action. At the time Shawmut acquired the two Gateway commercial mortgages on the Homestead, Shawmut already owned another commercial mortgage on the Homestead, which was in the face amount of $213,000, dated September 2, 1987 and recorded on September 3, 1987, in volume 142, page 254, of the Redding land records, and subsequently modified in volume 145, page 1164, of the Redding land records.

In 1993, the plaintiff filed a separate action against Shawmut (1993 action), claiming that the foreclosure action and refusal to convey title to her had frustrated her attempts to sell the Llomestead property and also caused her to suffer a “stress-induced respiratory failure,” which required her to be hospitalized. Her complaint sounded in negligence and unfair trade practices.

On December 13, 1993, the plaintiff withdrew her complaint as part of a settlement agreement with Shawmut. The parties agreed to resolve all pending claims [6]*6by entering into a stipulated judgment of strict foreclosure of the commercial mortgages on the Homestead premises. This agreement was adopted and approved by the court by written order rendering judgment dated December 14, 1993. Under the stipulated judgment, the plaintiff was to be foreclosed as of February 17, 1994, the law day, by which she was required to redeem. However, if she did not redeem, she still could have obtained title by quitclaim deed to three of the four lots covered by the Homestead mortgage upon payment of $350,000 on or before March 1, 1994. The February 17, 1994 law day passed without redemption, and the plaintiff did not pay the $350,000 by March 1, 1994, for the three lots referred to in the stipulated judgment. Title to the entire Homestead property remained vested in Shawmut. The specific terms of the judgment are detailed in part I B.

After her failure either to redeem or to make the $350,000 payment to buy three of the lots back from Shawmut, the plaintiff subsequently filed a second action against Shawmut on March 4,1994 (1994 action). She sought to impose a constructive trust on three lots of the Homestead property and alleged that Shawmut had breached the stipulated judgment by refusing to extend the payment deadline. In conjunction with the 1994 action, the plaintiff filed a notice of lis pendens, which was discharged by the court on Shawmut’s motion. The court found no probable cause to sustain the lis pendens on the ground that the March 1, 1994 deadline was a final cutoff date for payment of the $350,000, and, therefore, the plaintiff had not been entitled to an extension. This judgment was subsequently affirmed by this court in Shawmut Bank v. Knudsen, 38 Conn. App. 919, 659 A.2d 1240, cert. denied, 235 Conn. 920, 665 A.2d 906 (1995) (per curiam).

On March 8, 1996, the plaintiff filed another action against Shawmut (1996 action), which realleged claims [7]*7from both the 1993 and 1994 actions. The plaintiff withdrew her 1994 action after the court, Radcliffe, J., found that all of the issues contained therein had been raised in count six of her 1996 action.3 The only new claim alleged by the plaintiff in the 1996 action was the seventh count, which was brought against OCI Mortgage Company, the successor to Connecticut National Mortgage Company and a predecessor to Ocwen. Fleet, the successor to Shawmut, requested that the plaintiff revise her complaint, to which the plaintiff filed an objection that was overruled by the court. The plaintiff subsequently amended her complaint, and Fleet filed a motion for nonsuit, alleging that the revision was inadequate. The court granted Fleet’s motion over the plaintiffs objection, and the plaintiffs 1996 case was dismissed. The plaintiffs motion to open the judgment of nonsuit was denied on December 24, 1996. On April 15, 1997, the plaintiff brought the action now pending before this court (1997 action) in an attempt to revive the 1996 action under authority of the accidental failure of suit statute.

Both Fleet and Ocwen filed motions for summary judgment, which were granted by the court. The court found that claims one through five, alleged against Fleet, as successor to Shawmut, were not saved by the accidental failure of suit statute and were time barred by their respective statutes of limitation.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. v. Cam
161 A.3d 650 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2017)
Connecticut National Mortgage Co. v. Knudsen
150 A.3d 675 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2016)
Tellar v. Abbott Laboratories, Inc.
969 A.2d 210 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2009)
Barber v. Barber
968 A.2d 981 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2009)
Reichenbach v. Kraska Enterprises, LLC
938 A.2d 1238 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2008)
Pinette v. McLaughlin
901 A.2d 1269 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2006)
Gager v. Sanger
897 A.2d 704 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2006)
Bross v. Hillside Acres, Inc.
887 A.2d 420 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2006)
Lindsay v. Pierre
879 A.2d 482 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2005)
Fontanella v. Marcucci
877 A.2d 828 (Connecticut Appellate Court, 2005)
Lind-Larsen v. Fleet National Bank
861 A.2d 514 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2004)
Lind-Larsen v. Fleet National Bank of Connecticut
861 A.2d 514 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2004)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
852 A.2d 799, 84 Conn. App. 1, 2004 Conn. App. LEXIS 312, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lind-larsen-v-fleet-national-bank-connappct-2004.