Wadia Enterprises, Inc. v. Hirschfeld

604 A.2d 1339, 27 Conn. App. 162, 1992 Conn. App. LEXIS 128, 1992 WL 56665
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedMarch 24, 1992
Docket10477
StatusPublished
Cited by68 cases

This text of 604 A.2d 1339 (Wadia Enterprises, Inc. v. Hirschfeld) 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
Wadia Enterprises, Inc. v. Hirschfeld, 604 A.2d 1339, 27 Conn. App. 162, 1992 Conn. App. LEXIS 128, 1992 WL 56665 (Colo. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

Norcott, J.

The plaintiff corporation appeals from the trial court’s granting of the defendants’ motion for summary judgment. The plaintiff claims that the trial court improperly concluded that (1) the plaintiff failed to raise any genuine factual issue regarding whether the defendants acted in bad faith, or waived or became estopped to assert the protection of the Home Improvement Act, General Statutes § 20-418 et seq. (the Act), (2) there was no issue of material fact regarding the existence of the notice of cancellation that the Act requires, and (3) there was no factual issue regarding whether the defendants consented to work performed, thereby barring them from recovering under the Act. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

[164]*164The record discloses the following facts. In August, 1989, the parties entered into a detailed, written contract for the renovation of and addition to the defendants’ house in Greenwich. The contract was prepared by the defendants’ architect and New York attorneys before being presented to the plaintiff for execution. Relevant parts of the contract provided for payment of $599,314.80, substantial completion of the project 170 days after the building permit was obtained, a penalty clause of $500 per day for failure to complete the project within the time provided in the contract, supervision of the project by the defendants’ architect, the defendants’ retention of 5 percent of each installment payment until the architect’s certification of the completion of the job, and the right to submit any disputes to arbitration upon the parties’ mutual agreement. It is not disputed that this contract was a home improvement contract within the meaning of the Act. The contract did, however, fail to provide specifically for a notice of cancellation pursuant to General Statutes § 20-429 (a) (6).

On September 14, 1989, the plaintiff submitted the first of ten requisitions for payment, the first nine of which were approved by the defendants’ architect and paid to the plaintiff, minus the 5 percent retainage. On August 30,1990, the architect approved and certified for payment the tenth and final requisition in the amount of $64,000. A total of $35,676 of this sum consisted of the amounts retained from the first nine payments the defendants made. The defendants, however, did not issue final payment. They instead asserted that sums due under the contract’s liquidated damages clause were to be set off against the plaintiff’s final requisition for payment. The defendants also did not agree to submit the dispute to arbitration.

Thereafter, the plaintiff caused a mechanic’s lien to be filed on the Greenwich land records, and commenced [165]*165the underlying action to foreclose that lien and for breach of contract.1 On December 13, 1990, the defendants filed answers and special defenses, alleging that (1) payment in full had been made, (2) there was a failure of performance of the contract, and (3) that the contract violated the Act. Later, the plaintiff countered by filing an amended complaint, essentially alleging that the defendants’ refusal to make final payment amounted to bad faith use of the Act. The defendants then sought summary judgment, claiming that the underlying contract was unenforceable pursuant to the requirement of General Statutes § 20-429 (a) (6).2 Thereafter, the trial court granted the defendants’ motion. The court found that the contract was unenforceable, and that, because the plaintiff had failed to raise any genuine issue as to any material fact, the defendants were entitled to judgment as a matter of law.

The standards governing our review of a trial court’s decision on a motion for summary judgment are clear. Practice Book § 384 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.” See Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. v. Carriage Lane Associates, 219 Conn. 772, 780-81, 595 A.2d 334 (1991); Lees v. Middlesex Ins. Co., 219 Conn. 644, 650, 594 A.2d 952 (1991); Trotta v. Branford, 26 Conn. App. 407, 409, 601 A.2d 1036 (1992). While the burden of [166]*166showing the nonexistence of any material fact is on the party seeking summary judgment; see D.H.R. Construction Co. v. Donnelly, 180 Conn. 430, 434, 429 A.2d 908 (1980); “the party opposing [summary judgment] must substantiate its adverse claim by showing that there is a genuine issue of material fact together with the evidence disclosing the existence of such an issue.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Bassin v. Stamford, 26 Conn. App. 534, 537, 602 A.2d 1044 (1992). “In deciding a motion for summary judgment, the trial court must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party.” Strada v. Connecticut Newspapers, Inc., 193 Conn. 313, 317, 477 A.2d 1005 (1984). “The test is whether a party would be entitled to a directed verdict on the same facts.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Trotta v. Branford, supra, 410.

We first consider the plaintiffs claim that the trial court improperly determined that no genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the contract is viola-tive of the Act with respect to notice of cancellation. The plaintiff argues that the notice is contained in the contract’s provision that work was to commence seven days after the plaintiff obtained a building permit. The plaintiff contends that a genuine issue of material fact exists as to the notice requirement because the contract, as drafted by the defendants, states that the work to be performed shall commence seven days after a building permit is obtained and the contract is executed, a time period greater than the statutorily required three day cancellation period in which the agreement could have been rescinded.

General Statutes § 20-429 provides that “[n]o home improvement contract shall be valid or enforceable against an owner unless it . . . contains a notice of the owners’ cancellation rights in accordance with the provisions of the [Home Solicitation Sales Act, General Statutes § 42-134a et seq.].” General Statutes [167]*167§ 42-135a requires that home solicitation sales contracts contain specific language that consumers have three business days in which to cancel the contract. To provide that work is to commence within seven days says nothing about the right to cancel a contract. Because the contract at issue did not contain the specific language required by General Statutes § 20-429, the trial court therefore correctly determined that the notice provision was missing and that the contract was viola-tive of the Home Improvement Act.

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Bluebook (online)
604 A.2d 1339, 27 Conn. App. 162, 1992 Conn. App. LEXIS 128, 1992 WL 56665, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wadia-enterprises-inc-v-hirschfeld-connappct-1992.