Opinion
KATZ, J.
The plaintiff, Nancy Weinstein, appeals, following our grant of certification,1 from the judgment of the Appellate Court, affirming the judgment of the trial court. Weinstein v. Weinstein, 79 Conn. App. 638, 830 A.2d 1134 (2003). The trial court had denied the plaintiffs application for a rule to show cause requesting that the court open and vacate the judgment dissolving her marriage to the defendant, Luke A. Weinstein, on the ground that the stipulation on which the judgment was based was the result of a fraudulent misrepresentation by the defendant. On appeal to this court, the plaintiff challenges the Appellate Court’s conclusion that the trial court’s findings, namely, that the plaintiff had failed to prove both that the defendant committed fraud by clear and convincing evidence and [675] that there was a substantial likelihood that the result of a new trial would be different, were not clearly erroneous. Id., 648. Specifically, the plaintiff contends that she offered clear and convincing evidence that: (1) the defendant had committed fraud by failing to disclose a $2.5 million offer he and his business partners had received for the purchase of a software company that they owned during the pendency of the marriage dissolution proceedings; and (2) the defendant’s rejection of that lucrative offer compelled the conclusion that the defendant fraudulently had undervalued his ownership interest in the company in his financial affidavit submitted to the court in the marriage dissolution proceedings. The plaintiff also contends that she established that there is a substantial likelihood that the outcome of a new trial would be different in light of the withheld and misrepresented information. We agree with the plaintiff, and, accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court.
The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. After nearly seven years of marriage and the birth of one child, the plaintiff filed a complaint seeking to dissolve her marriage due to an irretrievable breakdown. At the time of the dissolution proceedings, the defendant owned a substantial minority interest in a small, privately held software company, Product Technologies, Inc. (Product Technologies).2 During the pendency of the matter, the plaintiff deposed the defendant, seeking specifically to obtain financial information about the value of his interest in the company. At trial before Higgins, J. (dissolution court), the plaintiff, [676] through her expert witness, Kenneth J. Pia, Jr., submitted a report to the court containing Pia’s valuation of the defendant’s interest, which Pia had made on the basis of the financial information contained in the defendant’s deposition, discovery and other representations, including the defendant’s sworn financial affidavits in which he repeatedly had valued his interest at $40,000.3 Subsequently, the parties stipulated to, and the dissolution court adopted, the $40,000 value for the defendant’s interest in the company. On May 12, 1998, the dissolution court entered orders for, inter alia, child support and alimony. The court also ordered the defendant to pay to the plaintiff $100,000 as a property settlement. On the basis of the stipulated valuation of the defendant’s interest in Product Technologies, the dissolution court allowed the defendant to retain that interest and the plaintiff to retain an inherited interest in a separate partnership owned by her family.
On May 29, 1998, the defendant filed a motion for reconsideration of the financial orders in the dissolution judgment, claiming that complying with the existing orders would “strip him bare” and force him to sell premarital assets. While that motion was pending, on June 12, 1998, the defendant received a memorandum of understanding from ICL, Inc. (ICL), a company wdth which Product Technologies jointly had developed certain software.4 Although the memorandum of under[677] standing did not set forth the finalized terms of the sale, it nonetheless clearly stated ICL’s intent to purchase Product Technologies, stating: “This [memorandum of understanding] sets forth the intent of the parties that the Shareholders shall sell to ICL and ICL shall purchase from the Shareholders all of the issued and outstanding shares of [Product Technologies], As such, the [Product Technologies] Business . . . shall be transferred to ICL including, but not limited to, all intellectual property rights. The term ‘[Product Technologies] Business’ shall include, but is not limited to, [Product Technologies] operations as a smart card software developer and systems integration/solutions provider. More specifically, the [Product Technologies] Business includes, but is not limited to, the supply, both directly and through strategic relationships, of SmartCity system software, hardware, installation, customization, system integration, support and training. At ICL’s election the Shares shall be sold to either ICL or to one or more of the companies within the ICL Group. The term ‘ICL Group’ means ICL’s parent, affiliated and subsidiary companies.” (Emphasis added.) On June 15, 1998, the defendant and his partners met with representatives from ICL, at which time ICL made an offer to purchase Product Technologies for $2.5 million. The defendant and his partners immediately rejected the offer, in part because they believed it was too low if ICL expected it to include the intellectual property asset. The defendant did not notify the plaintiff or the dissolution court that he had received and rejected this offer.
On June 16, 1998, the dissolution court denied the defendant’s motion for reconsideration. In October, 1998, five months after the entry of the judgment of dissolution, the defendant and his partners sold Product Technologies to ICL for $6 million. As a result of the sale, the defendant received approximately $1.45 million for his interest in the company.
[678] Thereafter, the plaintiff filed an application for a rule to show cause seeking to open and to vacate the judgment on the basis of fraud, asserting that the defendant fraudulently had failed to disclose and misrepresented material financial information during the pendency of the marital dissolution proceedings.5 With respect to nondisclosure, the plaintiff claimed, inter alia, that the defendant’s failure to disclose the $2.5 million offer constituted fraud. Specifically, the plaintiff contended that the defendant’s duty to disclose pertinent financial information had extended until June 16,1998, when the dissolution court ruled on the defendant’s motion for reconsideration. The plaintiff asserted that the defendant had become aware of ICL’s intent to purchase Product Technologies upon receipt of the memorandum of understanding on June 12, 1998, and that he had a duty to disclose the $2.5 million offer because the dissolution court had not yet ruled on his motion to reduce his financial obligations under the dissolution judgment due to monetary constraints.
With respect to misrepresentation, the plaintiff asserted, inter aha, that the defendant would not have considered the $2.5 mihion offer, which would have yielded the defendant approximately $500,000, to be too low unless Product Technologies and his interest therein were worth far more than the $40,000 that he had represented in his financial affidavit. Finally, the plaintiff contended that there was a substantial likelihood that the outcome of a new trial would be different in light of the withheld and misrepresented information.
The trial court, Parker, J., denied the plaintiffs application for a rule to show cause, finding that the plaintiff had not proffered clear and convincing evidence that [679] the defendant had committed fraud. With respect to the defendant’s nondisclosure, although the dissolution court did not render judgment in the case until May 12, 1998, the trial court apparently concluded that the defendant’s duty to disclose ended at the conclusion of the evidence, not upon the date on which judgment was rendered. The trial court found that, although the defendant had received an offer on June 15, 1998, “as of the time of the trial, April 16 and 17, 1998, there was no sale pending, no offer to purchase had been made, and no negotiations or discussions regarding [the] sale of [Product Technologies] had taken place.” With respect to the defendant’s allegedly fraudulent misrepresentation in his financial affidavit, the court declined to infer from the defendant’s rejection of ICL’s $2.5 million offer that Product Technologies was worth that amount or more. Because the trial court concluded that the plaintiff had failed to prove that the defendant engaged in fraudulent nondisclosure, and that the defendant’s rejection of the $2.5 million offer did not establish clear and convincing evidence of fraud in his financial affidavit, the court did not address the plaintiffs claim that there was a substantial likelihood that the outcome of a new trial would be different in light of the $2.5 million offer and the defendant’s rejection thereof. The trial court did, however, reach that issue with respect to a different nondisclosure claim asserted by the plaintiff; see footnote 7 of this opinion; but concluded that, even had the defendant violated his duty to disclose such information, there was not a substantial likelihood that the result of a new trial would be different.
The plaintiff filed a motion for reconsideration reasserting, inter alia, that the evidence reflected that the defendant had committed fraud because: (1) he received the sale offer before a final judgment had been rendered by virtue of the dissolution court’s denial of [680] the defendant’s motion for reconsideration; (2) the trial court acknowledged in its memorandum of decision that “ [n] ecessarily, by filing the motion [for reconsideration], [the] defendant invited the plaintiff and the [dissolution] court to take another look at his financial condition”; and (3) the defendant therefore violated his duty to disclose the sale offer before final judgment had been rendered. The trial court denied the motion. In doing so, the court characterized the issue of whether the defendant’s duty to disclose extended beyond the date of trial as outside the scope of the plaintiffs pleadings. The trial court further concluded that, in the absence of any appellate authority, it would not extend the duty to disclose beyond the trial and the rendering of judgment.
The plaintiff thereafter appealed to the Appellate Court, which affirmed the trial court’s decision. Specifically, the Appellate Court concluded that the trial court properly could have credited the defendant’s testimony that the subject of the sale of Product Technologies to ICL was not broached until June 15, 1998. Weinstein v. Weinstein, supra, 79 Conn. App. 641, 644. It did not address the plaintiffs claim regarding the extension of the defendant’s continuing duty to disclose.6 The [681] Appellate Court also failed to address the plaintiffs claim that the trial court improperly had concluded that the defendant had not misrepresented the value of his interest in his financial affidavit and specifically, that the defendant’s rejection of the $2.5 million offer did not evidence such a misrepresentation. This certified appeal followed.
The plaintiff claims that she has satisfied her burden of proving that the defendant fraudulently had misrepresented his financial condition during the dissolution proceedings. Specifically, she asserts, inter alia,7 that: (1) because the defendant’s continuing duty to disclose necessarily extended to the date the dissolution court had ruled on his motion for reconsideration on June 16, 1998, the defendant was required to disclose his knowledge of ICL’s intention to purchase Product Technologies, as reflected in the memorandum of understanding received on June 12,1998, and the $2.5 million offer received on June 15,1998; (2) the defendant deliberately withheld this material information; and (3) the $40,000 valuation the defendant placed on his ownership interest in Product Technologies was fraudulent in light of the defendant’s rejection of the $2.5 million offer. The plaintiff further asserts that the dissolution court likely would have reached a different result if there had been a new trial because it would have divided the parties’ assets differently, based either on the potential value of the defendant’s interest subject to the pending sale or on the present value of the defendant’s interest as reflected by the rejected $2.5 million offer.
[682] In response, the defendant contends that: (1) the $40,000 valuation in his affidavit was a reasonable assessment of the value of his interest in Product Technologies at that time given the company’s dire financial state;8 (2) the duty to disclose does not extend beyond the date the original judgment was rendered.9 He further [683] claims that, even if it did, it would be unreasonable to [684] require disclosure of an offer he received only one day before the dissolution court ruled on his motion for reconsideration. We agree with the plaintiff.
I
STANDARD OF REVIEW AND GOVERNING PRECEDENT
Before addressing the merits of the plaintiffs claims, we set forth the standard for our review and the relevant legal principles. The party claiming fraud—in this case, the plaintiff—has the burden of proof. Aksomitas v. Aksomitas, 205 Conn. 93, 100, 529 A.2d 1314 (1987). Whether that burden has been met is a question of fact that will not be overturned unless it is clearly erroneous. Miller v. Guimaraes, 78 Conn. App. 760, 781, 829 A.2d 422 (2003). “A court’s determination is clearly erroneous only in cases in which the record contains no evidence to support it, or in cases in which there is evidence, but the reviewing court is left with the definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made.” [685] (Internal quotation marks omitted.) W. v. W., 256 Conn. 657, 661, 779 A.2d 716 (2001).
“Our review of a court’s denial of a motion to open [based on fraud] is well settled. We do not undertake a plenary review of the merits of a decision of the trial court to grant or to deny a motion to open a judgment. ... In an appeal from a denial of a motion to open a judgment, our review is limited to the issue of whether the trial court has acted unreasonably and in clear' abuse of its discretion. ... In determining whether the trial court abused its discretion, this court must make every reasonable presumption in favor of its action. . . . The manner in which [this] discretion is exercised will not be disturbed so long as the court could reasonably conclude as it did. . . .
“Fraud consists in deception practiced in order to induce another to part with property or surrender some legal right, and which accomplishes the end designed. . . . The elements of a fraud action are: (1) a false representation was made as a statement of fact; (2) the statement was untrue and known to be so by its maker; (3) the statement was made with the intent of inducing reliance thereon; and (4) the other party relied on the statement to his detriment. ... A marital judgment based upon a stipulation may be opened if the stipulation, and thus the judgment, was obtained by fraud. ... A court’s determinations as to the elements of fraud are findings of fact that we will not disturb unless they are clearly erroneous. . . .
“There are three limitations on a court’s ability to grant relief from a dissolution judgment secured by fraud: (1) there must have been no laches or unreasonable delay by the injured party after the fraud was discovered; (2) there must be clear proof of the fraud; and (3) there is a substantial likelihood that the result of the new trial will be different.” (Citations omitted; [686] internal quotation marks omitted.) Mattson v. Mattson, 74 Conn. App. 242,244-16,811 A.2d 256 (2002). Because there is no claim of undue delay in the present case, we limit our consideration to whether there was sufficient proof of fraud and whether the result in a new trial would differ.
To determine whether there was proof of fraud, we consider the evidence through the lens of our well settled policy regarding full and frank disclosure in marital dissolution actions. “Our [rules of practice have] long required that at the time a dissolution of marriage, legal separation or annulment action is claimed for a hearing, the moving party shall file a sworn statement ... of current income, expenses, assets and liabilities, and pertinent records of employment, gross earnings, gross wages and all other income. . . . The opposing party is required to file a similar affidavit at least three days before the date of the hearing ....
“Our cases have uniformly emphasized the need for full and frank disclosure in that affidavit. A court is entitled to rely upon the truth and accuracy of sworn statements required by . . . the [rules of practice], and a misrepresentation of assets and income is a serious and intolerable dereliction on the part of the affiant which goes to the very heart of the judicial proceeding. . . . These sworn statements have great significance in domestic disputes in that they serve to facilitate the process and avoid the necessity of testimony in public by persons still married to each other regarding the circumstances of their formerly private existence. . . .
“Moreover, in Monroe v. Monroe, [177 Conn. 173, 182, 413 A.2d 819, appeal dismissed, 444 U.S. 801, 100 S. Ct. 20, 62 L. Ed. 2d 14 (1979)], we referred to the requirement of full and frank disclosure between attorney and marital client. [L]awyers who represent clients in matrimonial dissolutions have a special responsibility for full [687] and fair disclosure, for a searching dialogue, about all of the facts that materially affect the client’s rights and interests. Id., 183. In Baker v. Baker, 187 Conn. 315, 322, 445 A.2d 912 (1982), we imposed this requirement of honest disclosure between the litigating parties and the court. It is a logical extension of those precedents to require such full and frank disclosure as well between the marital litigants themselves. . . .
“We have recognized, furthermore, in the context of an action based upon fraud, that the special relationship between fiduciary and beneficiary compels full disclosure by the fiduciary. . . . Although marital parties are not necessarily in the relationship of fiduciary to beneficiary, we believe that no less disclosure is required of such parties when they come to court seeking to terminate their marriage.
“Finally, the principle of full and frank disclosure . . . is essential to our strong policy that the private settlement of the financial affairs of estranged marital partners is a goal that courts should support rather than undermine. . . . That goal requires, in turn, that reasonable settlements have been knowingly agreed upon. . . . Our support of that goal will be effective only if we instill confidence in marital litigants that we require, as a concomitant of the settlement process, such full and frank disclosure from both sides, for then they will be more willing to [forgo] their combat and to settle their dispute privately, secure in the knowledge that they have all the essential information. . . . This principle will, in turn, decrease the need for extensive discovery, and will thereby help to preserve a greater measure of the often sorely tried marital assets for the support of all of the family members.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Billington v. Billington, 220 Conn. 212, 219-22, 595 A.2d 1377 (1991).
[688] II
EVIDENCE OF FRAUD
A
Misrepresentation in the Defendant’s Financial Affidavit
We begin with the plaintiffs claim that the defendant committed fraud in his financial affidavit. In April, 1998, the defendant represented at the dissolution trial that Product Technologies was worth approximately $200,000. In his financial affidavit, the defendant repeatedly valued his interest in the company at $40,000. See footnote 3 of this opinion. Only two months later, on June 15,1998, the defendant received and rejected ICL’s $2.5 million purchase offer in part because he believed it was too low. A $2.5 million sale price for Product Technologies would have netted the defendant $500,000 for his interest alone. On June 17, the defendant authored a letter to ICL stating that their “low valuation of [Product Technologies]” was flawed because it failed to account for the intellectual property asset. At the hearing on the plaintiffs rule to show cause, the defendant was asked to explain what he meant in the June 17 letter:
“[The Plaintiffs Counsel]: [W]hat did you mean by the low valuation? That the $2.5 million was too low, is that what you meant?
“[The Defendant]: Yes.”
The only logical conclusion one could draw from the defendant’s stated belief that the $2.5 million offer was too low is that the defendant knew that Product Technologies and his interest therein were worth far more that he previously had represented in his financial affi[689] davit during the dissolution trial.10 At the hearing on the rule to show cause, the defendant testified that he based his valuation of Product Technologies and his interest therein on the book value of the company at that time. Although the defendant contends that his valuation was justified at the time given the book value11 [690] of the company, the fact that the defendant based his valuation of Product Technologies solely on the company’s book value simply means that his valuation patently was flawed for the same reason that he said ICL’s $2.5 million valuation was flawed—it failed to account for the worth of the intellectual property asset.12 Therefore, what we have in the present case is the dissolution of a marriage in which one party held a valuable asset, the true worth and nature of which only that party knew. [691] Accordingly, in evaluating the trial court’s decision, we must ask ourselves whether the trial court reasonably could have concluded that there was not clear and convincing evidence that: (1) a fiduciary would have had a duty to disclose the withheld information to a beneficiary; and (2) a fiduciary would have committed fraud in withholding that information from a beneficiary. See Billington v. Billington, supra, 220 Conn. 221; Jackson v. Jackson, 2 Conn. App. 179, 191, 478 A.2d 1026, cert. denied, 194 Conn. 805, 482 A.2d 710 (1984); see also Anderson v. Anderson, 822 A.2d 824, 829 (Pa. Super. 2003) (“The rules were intended to provide an even playing field for both parties in the marital and economic dissolution of the marriage. The rules should not and must not be used to play a game of ‘gotcha.’ ”). When viewed through this lens, the defendant’s conduct in excluding from his valuation the worth of an asset that Product Technologies had spent more than $1 million developing and was the “life blood” of the company reasonably can be viewed only as a blatant and deliberate misrepresentation.13 See Jackson v. Jackson, supra, 195 (“[T]he plaintiff know[692] ingly made an untrue representation. The representation was made to induce the defendant to act upon it. That is the self-evident purpose of such affidavits.” [Emphasis added.]).
Even if we were to assume, arguendo, that the defendant’s valuation of Product Technologies during the dissolution trial included the worth of the intellectual property asset, his assessment that the $2.5 million offer was too low still equally serves as clear and convincing evidence that the valuation was a misrepresentation. If the defendant’s valuation of $200,000 for the company had been an accurate assessment that included the worth of the intellectual property asset, then he could not have believed that ICL’s $2.5 million valuation of the company was too low because it excluded the value of that asset.
In considering the defendant’s suggestion that ICL was willing to spend an added premium in order to avoid litigation over the intellectual property rights to the jointly developed software and to gain a competitive advantage in the market, one must ask how much of a premium the trial court reasonably could have assumed that ICL would have been willing to pay for something that supposedly was worth only $200,000. Let us assume, for example, that the trial court determined that as much as 50 percent of the $2.5 million offer could have been a premium that ICL was willing to pay simply to avoid the cost and stress of litigation. It defies reason, however, to think that anyone would spend $1.25 million just to avoid litigation over something worth only $200,000. It would be equally implausible to think that anyone would be willing to pay an additional $1.25 million on top of the litigation premium for something worth so little. Similarly, ICL would not be willing to spend any more money to gain a competitive advantage in the market than it believed that it could make in the market once it had the intellectual property asset. [693] Product Technologies and ICL had developed this asset together, and no one knew its worth better than these two companies. Thus, ICL’s $2.5 million offer constituted an independent appraisal of the worth of Product Technologies that the defendant himself labeled as “flawed” because it was too low.14 Indeed, the huge disparity between the value that the defendant placed on Product Technologies in April, 1998, and the value that ICL placed on the company just two months later compels the conclusion that the defendant knew the company and his interest therein were worth more during the dissolution trial.15 Therefore, the trial court rea[694] sonably could not have found a lack of correlation between the defendant’s assessment of the $2.5 million offer as too low and his valuation of Product Technologies during the dissolution trial, and we are left with the “definite and firm conviction” that a mistake has been made.16 See State v. Michael J., 274 Conn. 321, 346, 875 A.2d 510 (2005) (“[a] finding of fact is clearly erroneous when there is no evidence in the record to support it ... or when although there 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” [internal quotation marks omitted]). Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court’s determination that the plaintiff failed to proffer clear and convincing evidence that the defendant knowingly had misrepresented his worth in his financial affidavit was clearly erroneous in light of the defendant’s testimony regarding the $2.5 million offer. Because the trial court failed to conclude that the defendant had misrepresented his worth in his financial affidavit, the court did not address the question of whether such a misrepresentation would have been calculated to [695] deceive the plaintiff. In light of the evidence presented, however, we can glean no reason for the defendant’s misrepresentation other than to induce the plaintiff to rely on the undervaluation in his affidavit to her detriment. See Greger v. Greger, 22 Conn. App. 596, 600, 578 A.2d 162 (concluding that trial court properly found that defendant’s conduct was “deliberate, fraudulent and egregious concealment of assets” when defendant had represented in his affidavit that his closely held insurance business had no value although he knew, at time affidavit was filed, exactly how much he would be receiving from sale of business), cert. denied, 216 Conn. 820, 581 A.2d 1055 (1990).
B
Nondisclosure as Further Misrepresentation
Although we already have concluded that the evidence proffered by the plaintiff regarding the defendant’s valuation in his financial affidavit was sufficient to establish that the defendant had misrepresented his financial worth intentionally to deceive the plaintiff, we feel compelled to address the plaintiffs nondisclosure claim, as it further illuminates the defendant’s continuing pattern of fraudulent conduct. The plaintiff contends that the defendant’s duty to disclose pertinent financial information extended until the trial court rendered its decision on the defendant’s motion for reconsideration of the dissolution judgment on June 16,1998, and that the defendant, therefore, should have disclosed his knowledge of ICL’s intent to purchase Product Technologies, notice of which he received on June 12, 1998, and ICL’s $2.5 million offer, which was received on June 15, 1998.17 The defendant contends that his duty [696] to disclose such information did not extend beyond the judgment date of May 12, 1998, and that his motion for reconsideration, filed fourteen days later claiming that compliance with the order would “strip him bare” and force him to sell premarital assets, did not extend that duty. We agree with the plaintiff.
At the outset, we note that the trial court predicated its conclusion on the assumption that the defendant’s continuing duty to disclose pertinent financial information expired at the close of the dissolution trial on April 17, 1998, rather than when judgment was rendered. “Whether the [defendant] had a duty to disclose is a question of law and, thus, our review [of the trial court’s conclusion] is plenary.” Miller v. Guimaraes, supra, 78 Conn. App. 776, citing Macomber v. Travelers Property & Casualty Corp., 261 Conn. 620, 635-36, 804 A.2d 180 (2002). We conclude that the trial court’s assumption was incorrect as a matter of law.
Practice Book § 13-15 imposes a continuing duty, during trial, to correct or supplement discovery responses.18 With respect to dissolution proceedings, [697] this court has established that the value of the parties’ assets must be determined as of the time the judgment of dissolution is rendered. See Sunbury v. Sunbury, 216 Conn. 673, 676, 583 A.2d 636 (1990) (“[i]n the absence of any exceptional intervening circumstances occurring in the meantime, [the] date of the granting of the divorce would be the proper time as of which to determine the value of the estate of the parties upon which to base the division of property” [internal quotation marks omitted]); see also 3 A. Rutkin, Family Law and Practice (2005) § 36.06 [1], pp. 36-22 through 36-23 (“Statutes in the vast majority of states set no definite date for valuation, although there are a few exceptions. Case law, therefore, governs in most jurisdictions. Numerous courts have held that assets should be valued as of the date of the decree. A significant number of courts have also decided that the proper valuation date for marital assets is the date of trial.”). Therefore, it is clear that the duty to update pertinent discovery responses and to disclose facts relevant to that determination necessarily must extend until the judgment is rendered. Indeed, the sole purpose of disclosing pertinent financial information and mandating updated financial affidavits is to value the parties’ assets properly, and it would completely thwart that purpose if the duty to disclose were to end before the asset valuation date. A treatise on family law explains why the later date serves an important function: “A separate, but critical, determination is the date selected for valuation of property to be distributed. The final award to a party may be significantly larger or smaller depending on the date chosen, especially if the parties’ property consists of assets which fluctuate in value. Since the final divorce hearing [698] often will be months or even years after the parties’ final separation, a valuation date should be selected that will give the trial court the most current and accurate information possible, depending on the nature of the asset.” 3 A. Rutkin, supra, § 36.06, p. 36-22. Indeed, extending the duty to disclose until the judgment is final essentially is mandated by our determination in Billington v. Billington, supra, 212 Conn. 220-22, wherein we underscored the necessity for full and frank disclosure in marital actions. See also Practice Book § 1-8 (“[t]he design of these rules [is] to facilitate business and advance justice, [and] they will be interpreted liberally in any case where it shall be manifest that a strict adherence to them will work surprise or injustice”). Thus, as our case law for the last fifteen years makes clear, the duty to disclose continued until the judgment of dissolution was final.19
In the present case, however, because the defendant filed a motion for reconsideration, the judgment ultimately did not become final until the dissolution court acted on his motion. We have recognized in an analogous context that the filing of a motion for reconsideration should be treated as suspending the finality of judgment when the effect of a ruling on the motion can affect the substantive rights of the parties.20 See [699] Killingly v. Connecticut Siting Council, 220 Conn. 516, 525-27, 600 A.2d 752 (1991); see also Interstate Commerce Commission v. Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, 482 U.S. 270, 284-85, 107 S. Ct. 2360, 96 L. Ed. 2d 222 (1987) (concluding that pending reconsideration had stayed appeal period and had rendered agency’s original order “nonfinal” until decision on reconsideration was issued). Such a result is consistent with the rule that the filing of a motion that seeks an alteration, rather than a clarification, of the judgment suspends the appeal period. See Practice Book § 63-1 (c); In re Haley B., 262 Conn. 406, 412-14, 815 A.2d 113 (2003) (concluding that motion for change in visitation order suspended appeal period). It also is consistent with our rules of practice governing appellate proceedings, which provide in relevant part that “[ujnless the chief justice or chief judge shall otherwise direct, any stay of proceedings which was in effect during the pendency of the appeal shall continue until the time for filing a motion for reconsideration has expired, and, if a motion is filed, until twenty days after its disposition, and, if it is granted, until the appeal is finally determined. . . .” Practice Book § 71-6.21 Thus, under the facts and cir[700] cumstances of the present case, it is clear that the defendant’s continuing duty to disclose information pertinent to valuing the parties’ assets for distribution extended at least until June 16, 1998, when the dissolution court denied his motion for reconsideration of the dissolution judgment. Because the defendant’s continuing duty to disclose extended through June 12, 1998, the defendant bore an obligation to inform the plaintiff and the dissolution court about ICL’s intent to purchase Product Technologies. Similarly, the defendant had a duty to disclose ICL’s $2.5 million purchase offer received on June 15, 1998.22
At oral argument before the dissolution court on his motion for reconsideration, the defendant contended that complying with the financial orders under the dissolution judgment would “strip him bare” and force him to sell premarital assets. Three days earlier, however, the defendant had received express notice of ICL’s intent to purchase Product Technologies, and, on the day of the hearing on his motion, the defendant received the $2.5 million purchase offer. Indeed, the defendant must have known that he bore a duty to disclose this information because such a duty is inherent in the nature of the request he made before the court in his motion for reconsideration. “Common sense is not to be left at the courthouse door.” Meehan v. Meehan, 40 Conn. App. 107, 113, 669 A.2d 616, cert. denied, 236 [701] Conn. 915, 673 A.2d 1142 (1996). This situation essentially is akin to the defendant going before the court and asking it to reduce his child support obligations because he was unemployed and could barely support himself, while concealing the fact that he had received a lucrative job offer that would pay him far more than he thought his services ever would be worth. In imploring the dissolution court to reduce his financial obligations to the plaintiff, the defendant necessarily reignited his duty to disclose fully and frankly any new financial information because such information was directly pertinent and material to the very issue the defendant was asking the court to reconsider. See Duksa v. Middletown,, 173 Conn. 124, 127, 376 A.2d 1099 (1977) (“[a] party who assumes to speak must make a full and fair-disclosure as to the matters about which he assumes to speak” [internal quotation marks omitted]). Such information certainly would include a purchase offer for, and a significant increase in value of, a marital asset. See footnote 15 of this opinion. It would defy logic and principles of fairness to allow the defendant to contest his financial ability to comply with the dissolution court’s order by claiming financial hardship while simultaneously allowing him to withhold information expressly sought by the plaintiff as to the accurate value of and purchase offers for Product Technologies. Similarly, under the circumstances of this case, the evidence compels the conclusion that his nondisclosure of the $2.5 million purchase offer was calculated to deceive. See Miller v. Appleby, 183 Conn. 51, 57 n.1, 438 A.2d 811 (1981) (“when false representations are made for the purpose of inducing an act to another’s injury, necessarily there is the plain implication that the representations were made with the intent to deceive”).
C
Detrimental Reliance
It is undisputed that the plaintiff relied on the valuation in the defendant’s affidavit when she agreed to [702] stipulate that his interest was worth only the $40,000 value listed therein.23 Similarly, the dissolution court relied on the stipulated value in dividing the parties’ assets. In light of these facts, it cannot be said that the misrepresentation in the defendant’s affidavit was not material or that the plaintiff did not rely on it to her detriment. With respect to nondisclosure, it bears repeating that the reason the plaintiff is saddled with the burden of having to demonstrate fraud by clear and convincing evidence is because the defendant did not disclose timely material information that bore on the truthfulness of his financial affidavit. Had the defendant timely disclosed the $2.5 million offer instead of coming to court seeking its beneficence, the plaintiff would have been well within the four month period during which the plaintiff would have been permitted to file a motion to open the judgment, subject only to review as to whether the court acted unreasonably or in clear abuse of its discretion.24 See American Honda Finance Corp. v. Johnson, 80 Conn. App. 164, 166, 834 A.2d 59 (2003). Instead, by failing to disclose material information that bore directly on financial orders the defendant asked the dissolution court to reconsider, he invited the court to scrutinize the value of a marital asset that he continued to misrepresent.25 Thus, it can hardly be [703] said that the defendant’s failure to disclose the $2.5 million offer was not detrimental to the plaintiff, as it was the sole reason for the plaintiffs delay in discovering the defendant’s misrepresentation in his financial affidavit. Accordingly, we conclude that the trial court improperly determined that the plaintiff had failed to establish the elements of fraud by clear and convincing evidence. See Billington v. Billington, 27 Conn. App. 466, 468, 606 A.2d 737 (concluding that trial court properly found that plaintiff had proven by clear and convincing evidence that defendant committed fraud when parties had agreed on property division of parcels of equal value and defendant represented in his affidavit that parcel he was to receive was worth $225,000 but failed to disclose that he already had received offer for $380,000 for parcel), cert. denied, 224 Conn. 906, 615 A.2d 1047 (1992).
Ill
SUBSTANTIAL LIKELIHOOD OF DIFFERENT OUTCOME
Finally, we turn to the issue of whether the plaintiff failed to proffer clear- proof that there is a substantial [704] likelihood that the outcome of a new trial would be different. The plaintiff contends that, in light of the true value of Product Technologies, the value of the parties’ marital assets would have been significantly higher, thus, increasing her portion of the property settlement.
In its memorandum of decision, the trial court noted that the key questions involved in this inquiry were whether the plaintiff would have: (1) agreed to the $40,000 valuation of the defendant’s interest in Product Technologies; (2) presented evidence that the value of the defendant’s interest was greater than $40,000; and (3) been able to convince the trial court that the value was significantly greater than $40,000. We agree with the trial court’s summary of the proof needed, but we disagree with its conclusion that the plaintiff failed to meet this burden.
We first note that, had the dissolution court known of the defendant’s misrepresentation in his financial affidavit, it clearly would have viewed the defendant’s credibility, and therefore his testimony, with far greater skepticism. Furthermore, in light of Product Technologies’ drastically higher value than that attested to by the defendant, as evidenced by ICL’s $2.5 million offer, we are left with the definite and firm conviction that the trial court should have concluded that there existed a substantial likelihood that the dissolution court would have made a different distribution of assets in the plaintiffs favor, either in the form of a direct payment or in shares of the defendant’s company. The plaintiff need not prove what remedy the dissolution court would have adopted; just that the outcome likely would have differed.
We farther conclude that, if the sale offer properly had been disclosed, it is substantially likely that the dissolution court would have granted, rather than denied, the defendant’s motion for reconsideration of [705] the dissolution order, adopting any number of remedies in the interest of avoiding a miscarriage of justice to the plaintiff. See Northeast Savings, F.A. v. Scherban, 47 Conn. App. 225, 229-30, 702 A.2d 659 (1997) (“In any ordinary situation if a trial court feels that, by inadvertence or mistake, there has been a failure to introduce available evidence upon a material issue in the case of such a nature that in its absence there is a serious danger of a miscarriage of justice, it may properly permit that evidence to be introduced at any time before the case has been decided. Hauser v. Fairfield, 126 Conn. 240, 242, 10 A.2d 689 (1940). Whether or not a trial court will permit further evidence to be offered after the close of testimony in a case is a matter resting in the sound discretion of the court.” [Internal quotation marks omitted.]), cert. denied, 244 Conn. 907, 714 A.2d 2 (1998); see also Doyle v. Abbenante, 89 Conn. App. 658, 665, 875 A.2d 558 (2005) (“[a]s a general matter, in the absence of the discovery of some new facts or new legal authorities that could not have been presented earlier, the denial of a motion for reargument is not an abuse of the discretion of the trial court” [emphasis added]). The extent to which it might have been difficult to assign a precise value to the potential future value of Product Technologies or only its intellectual property asset does not affect the outcome. The dissolution court could have addressed that issue by granting the plaintiff shares in the company. Indeed, it is not uncommon for dissolution courts to have to deal with assets with fluctuating values.26
[706] The defendant disputes that the result of a new trial would be different because the plaintiff rejected an offer he had made during the dissolution proceedings to give her a share of his interest. Specifically, at the hearing on the motion to open the judgment, the defendant testified that he had offered the plaintiff a “tail” provision, meaning that he had been willing to give the plaintiff 20 to 30 percent of the proceeds of any sale of his interest in Product Technologies should one occur within a fixed period of time after the marital dissolution judgment.27 The defendant apparently overlooks, [707] however, that, at the time he made that offer, he had represented to the plaintiff that the future outlook for Product Technologies was bleak and that he had failed to disclose the company’s actual worth including the value of its intellectual property asset. Thus, the plaintiffs rejection of the defendant’s offer of an interest that the defendant essentially asserted had little to no value does not bear on whether she would have reacted differently had the true picture been disclosed.
In sum, it was undisputed that Product Technologies was developed during the parties’ marriage, that marital assets were invested in the company and that the defendant’s interest in Product Technologies was a marital asset. Thus, had the dissolution court been aware that this asset was worth significantly more than the defendant had represented, it is substantially likely that the court ultimately would have entered a different award with respect to the division of the parties’ assets. See Kinderman v. Kinderman, 19 Conn. App. 534, 538, 562 A.2d 1151 (“[w]e have no trouble concluding that the $132,000 difference in valuation [of the marital residence] in this case is sizeable”), cert. denied, 212 Conn. 817, 565 A.2d 535 (1989); Cuneo v. Cuneo, 12 Conn. App. 702, 710, 533 A.2d 1226 (1989) (holding that increase in value of marital residence from $40,000 to $60,000 was sizable difference). Accordingly, we conclude that, had the trial court reached this issue, it would have been compelled to conclude that the plaintiff proffered clear proof of a substantial likelihood that the outcome of a new trial would yield a different result. See Jackson v. Jackson, supra, 2 Conn. App. 195 (“[considering all of the statutory criteria for distribution of assets and for alimony in a dissolution action; General Statutes § § 46b-81, 46b-82; we conclude that it is highly likely that a new trial, with all of the cards on the table, will produce a different result”).
[708] In sum, we are well aware of our limited role in reviewing the factual findings of the trial court under the clearly erroneous standard. The trier of fact has wide discretion in interpreting the evidence and drawing conclusions therefrom. Jackson v. Jackson, supra, 2 Conn. App. 195. When “a clear case is made under applicable law that a fraudulent and material misrepresentation by one party resulted in a substantial injustice to the other party, [however] we must not hesitate to act. This is such a case.”28 Id., 196.
The judgment of the Appellate Court is reversed and the case is remanded to that court with direction to reverse the judgment of the trial court and to remand the case to that court with direction to grant the motion to open the judgment of dissolution and for further proceedings according to law.
In this opinion BORDEN and NORCOTT, Js., concurred.