24 Conn. App. 719 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1991
The plaintiffs, William L. Johndrow and Ila Johndrow, commenced suit against the state
Subsequently, Hartford filed a motion to substitute the plaintiff’s employer, Nutmeg, as an intervening plaintiff in place of Hartford. The Johndrows moved to dismiss Hartford’s intervening complaint, alleging that Hartford had no standing to intervene because General Statutes § 31-293 grants the right of intervention in this case exclusively to the employer, and that the court lacked subject matter jurisdiction. The trial court agreed and struck Hartford’s intervening complaint. The court concluded that it lacked the power to grant or deny the relief requested, granted the motion to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction, and held that the motion to substitute was moot.
Hartford and Nutmeg contend that the trial court improperly granted the plaintiffs’ motion to dismiss and improperly failed to consider the motion to substitute on its merits before granting the motion to dismiss. We disagree.
Intervention, pursuant to the Workers’ Compensation Act, is controlled specifically and solely by
An insurance carrier does not constitute an employer for the purposes of intervention within the meaning of General Statutes § 31-293. McClendon v. Soos, supra, 618. Accordingly, Hartford does not constitute an employer under § 31-293 and never had a right to intervene in this action. It had no standing to pursue any cause of action under this section, or to file any motions pertaining thereto. Id.
By failing to move for intervention in a timely fashion, Nutmeg also lost any right it may have had to intervene in this action. Once statutory notice has been given
The trial court was also correct in not considering Hartford’s motion to substitute Nutmeg as intervenor. When the issue of subject matter jurisdiction is brought to the attention of the trial court, it must decide the question of jurisdiction before it proceeds any further with the case. Valley Cable Vision, Inc. v. Public Utilities Commission, 175 Conn. 30, 32, 392 A.2d 485 (1978). Having decided the issue of jurisdiction by holding that Hartford had no standing to intervene, the trial court correctly concluded that Hartford’s motion to substitute was moot and that it need not be considered on its merits.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
We note Practice Book § 101 which contemplates a motion to substitute the plaintiffs where substitution “is necessary for the determination of the real matter in dispute.” The real issue disputed in this action is the defendant’s liability in tort and not the indemnification of another. Accordingly, this section does not apply to this case.