People's United Bank, Nat'l Ass'n v. Purcell

202 A.3d 1112, 187 Conn. App. 523
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedNovember 26, 2018
DocketAC 40408
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 202 A.3d 1112 (People's United Bank, Nat'l Ass'n v. Purcell) 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
People's United Bank, Nat'l Ass'n v. Purcell, 202 A.3d 1112, 187 Conn. App. 523 (Colo. Ct. App. 2018).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

*524The defendant Kevin Purcell1 appeals following the trial court's denial of his motion to open the judgment of foreclosure by sale and to dismiss the action. Specifically, the defendant claims that the trial court should have dismissed the action because it lacked personal jurisdiction over him due to insufficient service of process on him. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The following facts and procedural history are relevant to this appeal. The plaintiff, People's United Bank, National Association, commenced this action against the defendant on June 3, 2016, seeking to foreclose on his mortgaged property located at 180 Palm Street in Hartford. The state marshal's return of service indicated that she served the defendant by leaving the writ of summons and a copy of the complaint at the defendant's usual place of abode, the 180 Palm Street address.

*525On July 26, 2016, the defendant was defaulted for failure to appear. The court subsequently rendered a judgment of foreclosure *1114by sale on October 31, 2016. On February 3, 2017, the defendant filed a motion to open the judgment and to dismiss the action, arguing that the court lacked jurisdiction over him because he was never served with the writ of summons and complaint.2 After an evidentiary hearing, at which both the defendant and the marshal who served him by abode service testified, the court denied the defendant's motion to open the judgment and to dismiss the plaintiff's action, and set a new sale date.

The defendant next filed a motion to reargue his motion to open the judgment and for the court to reconsider its ruling, which the court also denied. The defendant then filed this appeal and subsequently moved for an articulation of the court's decision denying his motion to open the judgment and to dismiss the plaintiff's action. In its articulation, the trial court stated that it had credited the testimony of the marshal, noting that her testimony conformed with and expanded upon the information provided in her return of service. Moreover, the court also found that the defendant's testimony was "inconsistent and entirely incredible."

On appeal, the defendant argues that the court improperly denied his motion to open the judgment of foreclosure by sale and to dismiss the action for lack of personal jurisdiction. We disagree.

We first set forth the applicable legal principles and standard of review that guide our analysis. "We review a trial court's ruling on motions to open under an abuse of discretion standard.... Under this standard, we *526give every reasonable presumption in favor of a decision's correctness and will disturb the decision only where the trial court acted unreasonably or in a clear abuse of discretion. (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) GMAC Mortgage, LLC v. Ford , 178 Conn. App. 287, 294-95, 175 A.3d 582 (2017).

Further, "[t]he Superior Court ... may exercise jurisdiction over a person only if that person has been properly served with process, has consented to the jurisdiction of the court or has waived any objection to the court's exercise of personal jurisdiction.... When ... the defendant is a resident of Connecticut who claims that no valid abode service has been made upon her that would give the court jurisdiction over her person, the defendant bears the burden of disproving personal jurisdiction. The general rule putting the burden of proof on the defendant as to jurisdictional issues raised is based on the presumption of the truth of the matters stated in the officer's return. When jurisdiction is based on personal or abode service, the matters stated in the return, if true, confer jurisdiction unless sufficient evidence is introduced to prove otherwise." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Knutson Mortgage Corp. v. Bernier , 67 Conn. App. 768, 771, 789 A.2d 528 (2002).

"Whether a particular place is the usual place of abode of a defendant is a question of fact. Although the sheriff's return is prima facie evidence of the facts stated therein, it may be contradicted and facts may be introduced to show otherwise." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Tax Collector v. Stettinger , 79 Conn. App. 823, 825, 832 A.2d 75 (2003).

"It is well established that we review findings of fact under the clearly erroneous standard." Id., at 825, 832 A.2d 75. "A finding of fact is clearly erroneous *1115when there is no evidence in the record to support it ... or when although *527there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been committed.... Because it is the trial court's function to weigh the evidence and determine credibility, we give great deference to its findings.... In reviewing factual findings, [w]e do not examine the record to determine whether the [court] could have reached a conclusion other than the one reached.... Instead, we make every reasonable presumption ... in favor of the trial court's ruling" (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Gianetti v. Norwalk Hospital , 304 Conn. 754, 765-66, 43 A.3d 567 (2012).

Our review of the record leads us to conclude that the defendant has not demonstrated that the court's findings of fact were clearly erroneous. The return states that the marshal served the defendant by leaving a true and attested copy of the complaint at 180 Palm Street, the defendant's usual place of abode. At the evidentiary hearing, the marshal testified that a neighbor of the defendant, when asked by the marshal, stated that the defendant lived at 180 Palm Street.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
202 A.3d 1112, 187 Conn. App. 523, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peoples-united-bank-natl-assn-v-purcell-connappct-2018.