Segal v. Segal

823 A.2d 1208, 264 Conn. 498, 2003 Conn. LEXIS 241
CourtSupreme Court of Connecticut
DecidedJune 24, 2003
DocketSC 16604
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 823 A.2d 1208 (Segal v. Segal) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Segal v. Segal, 823 A.2d 1208, 264 Conn. 498, 2003 Conn. LEXIS 241 (Colo. 2003).

Opinion

Opinion

PALMER, J.

The primary issue raised by this certified appeal is whether a foreign judgment is enforceable, pursuant to the Uniform Enforcement of Foreign Judgments Act (act), General Statutes §§ 52-604 through 52-609,1 in this state while that judgment is on appeal even [501]*501though the judgment debtor has failed to provide the security required under the law of the foreign state in accordance with General Statutes § 52-606 (a).2 We conclude that such a judgment is enforceable under these circumstances. Inasmuch as the Appellate Court reached a contrary conclusion, we reverse the judgment of that court.

The relevant facts and procedural history are set forth in the opinion of the Appellate Court. “During their marriage, [Moey Segal, the plaintiff, and Leonor Midvidy Segal, the defendant] purchased property in Goshen for $400,000. Their marriage was dissolved in 1988 in Nevada with a divorce decree that ratified and approved the parties’ postnuptial agreements.3 Those agreements provided that the parties would continue to hold title to the Goshen property as joint tenants, and that the plaintiff would pay all taxes, utilities and general maintenance fees until it was sold.

“In 1992, the plaintiff ceased making payments to the defendant under the agreements and, in 1995, filed the present action in Connecticut seeking partition of the property. The defendant filed a counterclaim seeking the same remedy. On September 15, 1998, the court rendered judgment of partition by sale, which resulted in a sale of the property for $500,000 with the proceeds being paid into comt. Neither party appealed from the partition judgment, but each filed a motion for a determination of the interests and equities of the parties in the sale proceeds.

“The defendant [also had] instituted proceedings in Nevada seeking to declare the postnuptial agreements [502]*502void or, in the alternative, to be awarded damages for the plaintiffs breach of those agreements. In August, 1998, the Nevada [District] [C]ourt denied the defendant’s request to declare the agreements void but rendered judgment for her in the amount of $2.7 million for the plaintiffs breach of the agreements. [The plaintiff appealed from that judgment to the Nevada Supreme Court.4 Although Nevada law provides that a judgment on appeal is enforceable unless the judgment debtor obtains a stay by filing an appropriate bond; Nev. R. Civ. P. 62;5 the plaintiff failed to file such a bond.] The defendant [properly] filed the Nevada judgment in the Connecticut Superior Court pursuant to [§ 52-605 (a)].6

“The net proceeds of the partition sale . . . were $496,411.54, 50 percent of which is $248,205.77. The [Connecticut] corut rendered a supplemental judgment awarding the plaintiff $159,422.58, representing 50 percent of the net proceeds, minus $88,783.19 for property related expenses paid by the defendant, which the court found should have been paid by the plaintiff.7 The defendant was awarded $336,988.96, representing her one-half interest plus reimbursement of her expenses. The plaintiff appealed [and the defendant cross appealed] [503]*503from the supplemental judgment [to the Appellate Court] . . . Segal v. Segal, 65 Conn. App. 17, 19-20, 781 A.2d 492 (2001).

On appeal to our Appellate Court, the defendant contended, inter alia, that the trial court improperly had declined to give effect to the Nevada judgment rendered in her favor. Specifically, the defendant claimed that, because the plaintiff had failed to provide a bond under Nevada law, the plaintiff was not entitled to have enforcement of the Nevada judgment stayed in this state pursuant to § 52-606 (a) inasmuch as § 52-606 (a) expressly requires, as a condition to such a stay, that the judgment debtor prove that he has provided security for the satisfaction of the judgment required by the state in which that judgment was rendered. The defendant further claimed that, because the Nevada judgment is enforceable pursuant to the act in light of the plaintiffs failure to furnish the required security under Nevada law, the trial court should have awarded her the plaintiffs share of $159,422.58 from the partition sale as partial satisfaction of the Nevada judgment. The Appellate Court rejected the defendant’s claims, concluding that, because an appeal from the Nevada judgment was pending, that judgment was not enforceable in this state pursuant to the act. See id., 25. The Appellate Court also concluded that the Nevada judgment was not entitled to full faith and credit under article four, § 1, of the constitution of the United States,8 because an appeal from that judgment was pending, and, therefore, the judgment was not final. Id., 24. The Appellate Court thereupon affirmed the supplemental judgment of the trial court. Id., 25. We granted the defendant’s cross [504]*504petition for certification to appeal,9 limited to the following issue: “Whether the Appellate Court properly concluded that the money judgment rendered in the defendant’s favor in Nevada is unenforceable in this state, despite the plaintiff debtor’s failure to comply with ... § 52-606 (a), which requires proof that he has furnished security for the satisfaction of the Nevada judgment on appeal as required by Nevada law?” Segal v. Segal, 258 Conn. 927, 783 A.2d 1030 (2001).

As a threshold matter, the plaintiff claims that this appeal is moot, and, consequently, that this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over the defendant’s appeal. We conclude that the appeal is not moot. We further conclude that the Appellate Court improperly determined that the Nevada judgment is not enforceable in this state.

I

We first address the plaintiffs claim that this appeal is moot, a claim that implicates the jurisdiction of this court to entertain the defendant’s appeal. The plaintiffs mootness claim is predicated on the fact that, after the trial court rendered the supplemental judgment in the present case and immediately before the Appellate Court had affirmed the trial court’s supplemental judgment, the Nevada Supreme Court upheld the $2.7 million award to the defendant and affirmed in part the Nevada District Court’s judgment.10 The plaintiff contends that, because the Nevada judgment under consideration by the trial court and the Appellate Court now [505]*505is a final judgment inasmuch as an appeal from the Nevada judgment no longer is pending, any decision by this court regarding the enforceability of that judgment would constitute an advisory opinion. We disagree.

“Mootness implicates [this] court’s subject matter jurisdiction and is thus a threshold matter for us to resolve. ... It is a well-settled general rule that the existence of an actual controversy is an essential requisite to appellate jurisdiction; it is not the province of appellate courts to decide moot questions, disconnected from the granting of actual relief or from the determination of which no practical relief can follow. . . . An actual controversy must exist not only at the time the appeal is taken, but also throughout the pendency of the appeal. . . .

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
823 A.2d 1208, 264 Conn. 498, 2003 Conn. LEXIS 241, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/segal-v-segal-conn-2003.