Yeong Gil Kim v. Magnotta

714 A.2d 38, 49 Conn. App. 203, 1998 Conn. App. LEXIS 270
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedJune 23, 1998
DocketAC 16509
StatusPublished
Cited by35 cases

This text of 714 A.2d 38 (Yeong Gil Kim v. Magnotta) 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
Yeong Gil Kim v. Magnotta, 714 A.2d 38, 49 Conn. App. 203, 1998 Conn. App. LEXIS 270 (Colo. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinions

Opinion

HENNESSY, J.

The plaintiffs, Yeong Gil Kim and Hi-Soon Seo Kim, appeal from the trial court’s denial of their motion for rescission of the underlying stipulated [205]*205judgment. The named defendant, Dominick Magnotta,1 cross appeals from the denial of his motion for a directed verdict and his motion to set aside the jury verdict of a violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA), General Statutes § 42-110a et seq.2 We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

On December 5, 1989, the plaintiffs purchased a car wash business from Raindance, Inc., a corporation owned and controlled by the defendant, for a purchase price of $903,000.3 In addition, the plaintiffs entered into a twenty-five year lease of the premises, fixtures and personalty located at 938 West Main Street, Bran-ford, with a monthly rental payment of $3000.

The plaintiffs operated the Branford car wash for the next eighteen months, during which time they fell into arrears on both the rent and note payments. The defendant subsequently brought a summary process action against the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs stipulated to the entry of judgment against them in the amount of $436,743.49 owed under the note, $294.10 in costs, $11,854.69 in rental payments owed and the voluntary surrender of possession of the Branford car wash to the defendant.

On December 4, 1992, the plaintiffs filed a complaint against the defendant for fraud, theft4 and violation of CUTPA. The complaint alleged that the plaintiffs were [206]*206induced into purchasing the car wash by the fraudulent misrepresentations of the defendant as to the volume of cars serviced, operating expenses, and past and future gross earnings. In addition, the plaintiffs claim that while the summary process action was pending, the defendant offered to settle if the plaintiffs voluntarily surrendered possession of the Branford car wash and stipulated to the entry of judgment for the full amount due under the note. In exchange, the defendant would forgive all debts relating to the Branford car wash, including the release of the stipulated judgment, pay the attorney’s fees the plaintiffs incurred in connection with the summary process action and transfer title to another car wash located in Hamden to the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs agreed and a stipulated judgment was entered. The plaintiffs claim that the defendant failed to forgive all debts owed, to pay all attorney’s fees and to transfer title to the Hamden car wash.

The case was bifurcated at trial, with the jury deciding the issue of liability on all counts and the trial court deciding the remedy should the plaintiffs prevail. On August 25, 1995, the jury returned a verdict in favor of the defendant on the counts of fraud and theft, and in favor of the plaintiffs on the count of a violation of CUTPA. The defendant cross appeals from the denial of his motion for a directed verdict and his motion to set aside the verdict in connection with the CUTPA claim.

The trial court then considered the issue of relief. The plaintiffs requested restitution, rescission of the stipulated judgment, punitive damages and attorney’s fees. The court found that restitution was the proper remedy and rendered judgment in the amount of $483,000.5 The court declined to rescind the stipulated [207]*207judgment, reasoning that the four month limitation provided in General Statutes § 52-212a6 and Practice Book § 3267 operated as a bar, absent a showing of fraud, duress, accident or mistake. The jury declined to find fraud, and the court found no duress, accident or mistake. The plaintiffs appeal from the denial of their request for rescission.

I

The plaintiffs claim that the trial court improperly denied their request for rescission of the stipulated judgment. They claim that the court had jurisdiction to rescind the stipulated judgment and that rescission was an appropriate equitable remedy for a CUTPA violation. We disagree.

“A stipulated judgment is not a judicial determination of any litigated right. New York Cent. & H. R. R. Co. v. T. Stuart & Son Co., 260 Mass. 242, 248, 157 N.E. 540 [1927]; Dulles v. Dulles, 369 Pa. 101, 107, 85 A.2d 134 [1952]. It may be defined as a contract of the parties acknowledged in open court and ordered to be recorded by a court of competent jurisdiction. Owsiejko v. American Hardware Corporation, 137 Conn. 185, 187, 75 A.2d 404 [1950]; Risk v. Director, 141 Neb. 488, 496, 3 N.W.2d 922 [1942], [It is] the result of a contract and its embodiment in a form which places it and the matters covered by it beyond further controversy. 3 Freeman, [208]*208Judgments (5th Ed.) p. 2774. The essence of the judgment is that the parties to the litigation have voluntarily entered into an agreement setting their dispute or disputes at rest and that, upon this agreement, the court has entered judgment conforming to the terms of the agreement. Harter v. King County, 11 Wash. 2d 583, 591, 119 P.2d 919 [1941].” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Gillis v. Gillis, 214 Conn. 336, 339-40, 572 A.2d 323 (1990).

General Statutes § 52-212a provides that “[u]nless otherwise provided by law and except in such cases in which the court has continuing jurisdiction, a civil judgment or decree rendered in the Superior Court may not be opened or set aside unless a motion to open or set aside is filed within four months following the date on which it was rendered or passed. . . .” Practice Book § 326, now Practice Book (1998 Rev.) § 17-4, is essentially the same as § 52-212a. See footnote 6. It is well recognized that a failure to file a motion to open a judgment within four months deprives the trial court of jurisdiction to open the judgment. See Connecticut Pharmaceutical Assn., Inc. v. Milano, 191 Conn. 555, 558, 468 A.2d 1230 (1983); Celanese Fiber v. Pic Yarns, Inc., 184 Conn. 461, 465, 440 A.2d 159 (1981). “In Celanese Fiber, our Supreme Court held that a trial court lacked jurisdiction to open the judgment unless the otherwise provided by law exception applies. Celanese Fiber v. Pic Yarns, Inc., supra, 465. Unless the parties waive this time limitation, the trial court lacks jurisdiction to entertain a motion to open filed more than four months after a decision is rendered. Van Mecklenburg v. Pan American World Airways, Inc., 196 Conn. 517, 518, 494 A.2d 549 (1985); Gallagher v. Gallagher, 29 Conn. App. 482, 483, 616 A.2d 281 (1992).” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Citicorp Mortgage, Inc. v. Tarro, 37 Conn. App. 56, 59, 654 A.2d 1238 (1995).

[209]*209“There are few exceptions to the general rule. The court does have jurisdiction to open a stipulated judgment, on a motion, even after the four month period has elapsed if the movant can show that the judgment was obtained by fraud, duress, accident or mistake. Solomon v. Keiser, 22 Conn. App. 424, [427] 577 A.2d 1103 (1990).

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Bluebook (online)
714 A.2d 38, 49 Conn. App. 203, 1998 Conn. App. LEXIS 270, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yeong-gil-kim-v-magnotta-connappct-1998.