232 Conn. 750 | Conn. | 1995
The dispositive issue in this certified appeal is whether the Appellate Court properly found that the trial court had abused its discretion in opening a stipulated marriage dissolution decree on the ground of duress. We conclude that the evidence of record before the trial court was sufficient to sustain the finding of fact that underlay the trial court’s exercise of its discretion. We therefore reverse the judgment of the Appellate Court.
The marriage between the plaintiff, William Jenks, and the defendant, Jane Jenks, was dissolved by the trial court, Dranginis, J., in a judgment that incorporated by reference a joint stipulation of the parties. Within four months of the stipulated judgment, the
The Appellate Court concluded that the motion to open the stipulated judgment should have been denied. Jenks v. Jenks, 34 Conn. App. 462, 642 A.2d 31 (1994). Noting that the defendant had not challenged the terms of the stipulated judgment as being unfair or unreasonable; id., 469; the Appellate Court determined that she had failed to establish duress because there was an insufficient factual nexus between the plaintiff’s acts of misconduct during the marriage of the parties and the circumstances of the parties at the time of the execution of the stipulated judgment. Id., 467. On this basis, the Appellate Court reversed the judgment modifying the stipulated judgment and concomitantly reversed the finding that the plaintiff was in contempt for failing to comply with the modified judgment.
The Appellate Court rejected the trial court’s finding of duress largely because it found untenable the defendant’s argument, in that court, that duress affecting the power of one spouse to exercise free will, at any time during a marriage, would be sufficient to warrant the opening of any subsequent stipulated dissolution judgment. Jenks v. Jenks, supra, 34 Conn. App. 467. We agree that acceptance of so broadly stated a proposition would cast an unwarranted shadow on negotiated divorce settlements.
The issue before us is, however, a narrower one. The trial court’s finding of duress reasonably can be construed to include a finding that the plaintiff’s emotional abuse of the defendant immediately preceding the pre
The Appellate Court rejected the trial court’s finding because it concluded that the record contained “no evidence of any duress remotely contemporaneous with the execution of the [stipulated] agreement.” Jenks v. Jenks, supra, 34 Conn. App. 466. We disagree.
The trial court heard evidence from witnesses whom the court characterized as credible that, during the pendency of the dissolution proceedings, the plaintiff engaged in conduct that continued to interfere with the defendant’s exercise of her free will. These witnesses who, as friends of both parties, were endeavoring to mediate the dispute, described the plaintiff as having engaged in threatening and intimidating behavior that caused the defendant to become quiet and withdrawn. During September and October, 1991, the process of negotiation repeatedly was interrupted by last minute changes and ultimatums from the plaintiff, which the defendant’s former attorney later characterized as “mind games” on the part of the plaintiff. Even though there was little direct contact between the parties for the six weeks immediately preceding the date of the pretrial conference and the stipulated judgment, the
The judgment of the Appellate Court is reversed and the case is remanded to that court for consideration of any preserved issue or issues not yet resolved by that court.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
The Appellate Court affirmed the award of counsel fees to the defendant and did not reach an evidentiary question concerning expert testimony.
We granted certification to appeal limited to the following question: “Did the Appellate Court improperly conclude that the trial court abused