Southbridge Associates, LLC v. Garofalo

728 A.2d 1114, 53 Conn. App. 11, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 157
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedApril 27, 1999
DocketAC 18248
StatusPublished
Cited by125 cases

This text of 728 A.2d 1114 (Southbridge Associates, LLC v. Garofalo) 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
Southbridge Associates, LLC v. Garofalo, 728 A.2d 1114, 53 Conn. App. 11, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 157 (Colo. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

Opinion

KULAWIZ, J.

The defendants Albert A. Garofalo and Pequot Motor Inn, Inc. (Pequot), appeal from the judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff following that court’s granting of the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment.1 The defendants claim that the trial court [13]*13improperly (1) granted the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment, (2) denied the defendants’ motion for an order of compliance with discovery requests and (3) granted the plaintiffs motion for a judgment of foreclosure. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

On July 18, 1986, Garofalo borrowed $3,000,000 from Connecticut Bank and Trust (CBT) pursuant to a note and secured by a mortgage to CBT. On October 2, 1990, Garofalo borrowed an additional $300,000 from CBT pursuant to a note and secured by a mortgage to CBT. Garofalo used the funds to purchase the Bridgeport Motor Inn in Fairfield and a residential lot in Fairfield and to make improvements to the Pequot Motor Inn in Southport. CBT subsequently assigned the notes and mortgages to Fleet National Bank (Fleet).

In late 1995, Garofalo, an eighty-seven year old attorney licensed to practice in Connecticut, was admitted to a nursing home. Thereafter, beginning in November, 1995, he defaulted on the notes, making no payments until March, 1996, when Fleet accelerated the notes and demanded full payment of the outstanding balances.

Following acceleration, Fleet assigned the notes and mortgages to the plaintiff. Garofalo offered to purchase the notes from Fleet at a price that he claimed was higher than the amount that the plaintiff had paid. On November 21,1996, the plaintiff brought an action seeking a foreclosure against the defendants. The defendants filed an answer and special defenses. The trial court subsequently granted the plaintiffs motion for summary judgment as to liability and then rendered judgment of foreclosure by sale. This appeal followed.

I

The defendants first claim that the trial court improperly granted summary judgment. Specifically, the defendants contend that summary judgment was improper [14]*14because there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether (1) a fiduciary relationship existed between Garofalo and the plaintiffs predecessors in interest, CBT and Fleet, (2) CBT and Fleet breached an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, (3) the plaintiff is barred by waiver and estoppel from recovering in excess of what it paid for the notes and (4) the defendants’ counterclaims were proper. We disagree.

Practice Book § 17-49 provides that summary judgment “shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. ” A material fact is one that would alter the outcome of the case. Hammer v. Lumberman’s Mutual Casualty Co., 214 Conn. 573, 578, 573 A.2d 699 (1990); Budris v. Allstate Ins. Co., 44 Conn. App. 53, 56, 686 A.2d 533 (1996). The trial court, in deciding a motion for summary judgment, must view the evidence in a light most favorable to the nonmoving party. Mingachos v. CBS, Inc., 196 Conn. 91, 111, 491 A.2d 368 (1985). “The test is whether a party would be entitled to a directed verdict on the same facts.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Connell v. Colwell, 214 Conn. 242, 247, 571 A.2d 116 (1990). The party seeking summary judgment has the burden of presenting evidence showing the absence of any genuine issue of material fact and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and the party opposing the motion must provide an evidentiary foundation to demonstrate that a genuine issue over a material fact actually exists. Bruttomesso v. Northeastern Connecticut Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Inc., 242 Conn. 1, 5-6, 698 A.2d 795 (1997).

Additional facts are necessary to our resolution of this claim. The plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment claiming that it was entitled to judgment as a matter of law on all counts of the complaint because [15]*15Garofalo defaulted on the note, and his defenses, counterclaims and setoffs would not defeat the plaintiffs claims. The defendants, in their “third special defense and counterclaim and set-off one” claimed that Fleet breached an implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing by selling the notes to the plaintiff for an “amount less than that which the Defendant Garofalo was willing to pay.” The trial court, nonetheless, granted the motion for summary judgment because Garofalo admitted that he defaulted on the notes and his defenses failed to “attack the making, validity, or enforcement of the note or mortgage.” We conclude that the trial court properly rendered summary judgment.

“Because a mortgage foreclosure action is an equitable proceeding, the trial court may consider all relevant circumstances to ensure that complete justice is done.” Reynolds v. Ramos, 188 Conn. 316, 320, 449 A.2d 182 (1982). “The determination of what equity requires in a particular- case, the balancing of the equities, is a matter for the discretion of the trial court.” Kakalik v. Bernardo, 184 Conn. 386, 395, 439 A.2d 1016 (1981); Federal Deposit Ins. Corp. v. Bombero, 37 Conn. App. 764, 773, 657 A.2d 668 (1995), appeal dismissed, 236 Conn. 744, 674 A.2d 1324 (1996). Where the plaintiffs conduct is inequitable, a court may withhold foreclosure on equitable considerations and principles. Hamm v. Taylor, 180 Conn. 491, 497, 429 A.2d 946 (1980).

“At common law, the only defenses to an action of this character would have been payment, discharge, release or satisfaction . . . or, if there had never been a valid hen.” (Citation omitted.) Petterson v. Weinstock, 106 Conn. 436, 441, 138 A. 433 (1927). Moreover, our courts have permitted several equitable defenses to a foreclosure action. “[I]f the mortgagor is prevented by accident, mistake or fraud, from fulfilling a condition of the mortgage, foreclosure cannot be had . . . .” (Citations omitted.) Id., 442. Other equitable defenses [16]*16that our Supreme Court has recognized in foreclosure actions include unconscionability; Hamm v. Taylor, supra, 180 Conn. 494-96; abandonment of security; Glotzer v. Keyes, 125 Conn. 227, 233, 5 A.2d 1 (1939); and usury. Atlas Realty Corp. v. House, 120 Conn. 661, 669-70, 83 A. 9 (1936), overruled in part on other grounds, Ferrigno v. Cromwell Development Associates, 244 Conn. 189, 202, 708 A.2d 1371 (1998).

A

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Bluebook (online)
728 A.2d 1114, 53 Conn. App. 11, 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/southbridge-associates-llc-v-garofalo-connappct-1999.