Matto v. Dermatopathology Associates of New York

739 A.2d 1284, 55 Conn. App. 592, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 418
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedNovember 2, 1999
DocketAC 18455
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 739 A.2d 1284 (Matto v. Dermatopathology Associates of New York) 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
Matto v. Dermatopathology Associates of New York, 739 A.2d 1284, 55 Conn. App. 592, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 418 (Colo. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

[593]*593 Opinion

DALY, J.

The pro se plaintiff, Lawrence R. Matto,1 appeals from the judgment of the trial court granting the motion of the defendant, Dermatopathology Associates of New York, to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction. On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court improperly (1) excluded an affidavit as hearsay, (2) excluded deposition testimony of the plaintiffs expert, (3) scheduled the jurisdictional hearing and (4) concluded that the defendant’s conduct did not establish sufficient minimum contacts within the state to warrant the exercise of personal jurisdiction. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The trial court reasonably could have found the following facts. The plaintiff commenced the underlying medical malpractice action in the Connecticut Superior Court against Dermatopathology Associates of New York, P.C., in June, 1995, alleging that the defendant association2 was negligent and committed malpractice in interpreting skin pathology biopsies sent to it by Joel Singer, a Connecticut plastic surgeon.

On July 27,1995, the defendant moved to dismiss the action for lack of personal jurisdiction, claiming that it did not have sufficient minimum contacts with Connecticut for the court to exercise jurisdiction3 pursuant to [594]*594General Statutes § 52-59b. 4 In a decision filed September 28, 1995, the court, Bailen, J., reserved decision on the defendant’s motion until the plaintiff had an opportunity to conduct limited discovery concerning the issue of personal jurisdiction. The court also ordered a hearing with respect to the issue pursuant to Standard Tallow Corp. v. Jowdy, 190 Conn. 48, 459 A.2d 503 (1983), and permitted the defendant to reclaim its motion for argument at such hearing.

Following the completion of jurisdictional discovery in April, 1996, the defendant sought to have the court schedule a Standard Tallow Corp. hearing or, alternatively, hear the defendant’s motion to dismiss. In December, 1997, at the court’s suggestion, the defendant filed another motion to dismiss in an effort to obtain a hearing concerning the jurisdictional issue. On March 2,1998, the court heard the defendant’s motion to dismiss and scheduled a Standard Tallow Corp. hearing for April 6, 1998. The plaintiff did not object to the date of the scheduled hearing, nor did he assert that there [595]*595was an insufficient amount of time to prepare for the hearing. Indeed, at the April 6 hearing, when asked by the court if he was ready to proceed, the plaintiff replied that he was ready.

At the Standard Tallow Corp. hearing, the plaintiff did not call any witnesses, and the court admitted into evidence, without objection, four documents proffered by the plaintiff.5 The plaintiff also sought to introduce two other documents that were not admitted. Specifically, the plaintiff sought to introduce an affidavit of Leon Luck, a Connecticut physician, which was prepared solely for the hearing and purportedly listed the number of biopsies that were sent to the defendant from 1987 to 1997 by Dermatopathology Associates, P.C., of Westport.6 The court sustained the defendant’s hearsay objection, and the plaintiff did not raise the issue of whether any exceptions to the hearsay rule were applicable.

The plaintiff also sought to introduce the deposition testimony of Milton Okun, a physician, which was taken in another action and was critical of the treatment provided to the plaintiff by the defendant in this case. The court ruled that the evidence was irrelevant to the issue of personal jurisdiction and excluded the testimony. After the plaintiff presented his evidence, the court heard argument on the defendant’s motion to dismiss. The court rendered its decision on May 7,1998, granting the motion and holding that the defendant’s conduct “[was] such that ... § 52-59b [did] not authorize the [596]*596exercise of personal jurisdiction over [the defendant] because [it] did not have sufficient minimum contacts within the state of Connecticut.” This appeal followed.

I

The plaintiff first claims that the trial court improperly excluded Luck’s affidavit as hearsay. We decline to review this claim.

“This court will not review issues of law that are raised for the first time on appeal. . . . We have repeatedly held that this court will not consider claimed errors on the part of the trial court unless it appears on the record that the question was distinctly raised at trial and was ruled upon and decided by the court adversely to the appellant’s claim. . . . Claims that were not distinctly raised at trial are not reviewable on appeal.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Beliveau, 52 Conn. App. 475, 479, 727 A.2d 737, cert. denied, 249 Conn. 920, 733 A.2d 235 (1999).

Our review of the record, transcript and briefs reveals that the plaintiff failed to raise distinctly at trial the exceptions to the hearsay rule that he now presents on appeal as grounds for admission of the affidavit. The plaintiff merely stated that he objected to the court’s exclusion of the affidavit.

Moreover, the plaintiff has failed to present this claim properly for appellate review as required by Practice Book § 67-4 (d) (3), formerly § 4064 (d) (3).7 “It has long been our strong policy that if evidentiary rulings claimed to be improper are to be reviewed by this court, they must be set forth in the briefs as required and [597]*597outlined by the rules of practice.” State v. Bagley, 35 Conn. App. 138, 145, 644 A.2d 386, cert. denied, 231 Conn. 913, 648 A.2d 157 (1994). A party’s “mere assertion in [its] brief that the evidence was improperly excluded, coupled with transcript page references, will not be sufficient . . . .” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Morrill, 42 Conn. App. 669, 682, 681 A.2d 369 (1996). Such is the case here. Consequently, the plaintiff has not properly preserved or presented this claim for appeal, and we therefore decline to review it.

II

The plaintiff next claims that the trial court improperly excluded the deposition testimony of the plaintiff’s expert. We decline to review this claim.

As we stated in part, I of this opinion, we will not review issues of law that are raised for the first time on appeal or consider claimed errors on the part of the trial court, that were not distinctly raised at trial. State v. Beliveau, supra, 52 Conn. App. 479. Our review of the record, transcript and briefs reveals that the plaintiff failed to raise distinctly at trial, as he now does on appeal, the claim that the testimony was relevant and that it was admissible as former testimony. Consequently, we therefore decline to review his claim.

Assuming arguendo, that this claim was distinctly raised at the hearing, we would still conclude that the court properly excluded the deposition testimony.

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Bluebook (online)
739 A.2d 1284, 55 Conn. App. 592, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matto-v-dermatopathology-associates-of-new-york-connappct-1999.