225 Conn. 339 | Conn. | 1993
The defendant, Anthony Castellano, appeals from the trial court’s judgment in favor of the plaintiff, Middlesex Insurance Company, that vacated an arbitration award of $330,000 rendered in favor of the defendant. The defendant claims that the trial court improperly: (1) denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the plaintiff’s motion to vacate the arbitration award; and (2) granted the plaintiff’s application to vacate the award. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The following relevant facts are undisputed. On June 18, 1985, the defendant sustained injuries when a motorcycle on which he was a passenger was involved in a hit and run collision with a car. At the time of the accident, the defendant resided with his parents and sister and owned a motor vehicle, which he had insured
The plaintiff denied coverage on the basis that the defendant owned an automobile that was not itself insured by the plaintiff and therefore was not a covered person under the policies.
On September 13,1991, the plaintiff moved the trial court to vacate the arbitration award on the ground that the defendant was not a covered person under the terms of his father’s and sister’s policies because he owned an automobile. A show cause order was issued by the trial court in conjunction with the motion, and a hearing date was set for October 25,1991. The show cause order stated that notice was to be served upon the defendant in the manner prescribed by law at least
On November 25,1991, the defendant moved the trial court to dismiss both the September 13, 1991 motion to vacate and the October 25, 1991 motion to vacate on the grounds that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over the defendant and subject matter jurisdiction over the proceeding. On December 13, 1991, the trial court denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss concluding that there were no jurisdictional defects that would preclude it from reaching the merits of the plaintiff’s motion to vacate. In its memorandum of decision, the trial court stated that the plaintiff had filed its motion to vacate within the thirty day time limit set forth by General Statutes § 52-420 (b),
I
The defendant first claims that the trial court incorrectly concluded that it had subject matter jurisdiction over this matter and personal jurisdiction over the defendant. The defendant argues that although the first motion to vacate was timely filed within thirty days of notice of the arbitration award as required by General Statutes § 52-420 (b), the plaintiff failed to comply with the attached order requiring that notice of the hearing be served on the defendant at least twelve days prior to the hearing date. With respect to the plaintiff’s first motion to vacate, the defendant contends, therefore, that the plaintiff’s failure to give notice in accordance with the court’s order deprived the court of subject matter and personal jurisdiction. With respect to the plaintiff’s second motion to vacate, the defendant argues that this was a new motion over which the court did not have subject matter jurisdiction because the motion was not filed within the thirty day time limit as required by § 52-420 (b). The defendant maintains, therefore, that the trial court did not have personal or subject matter jurisdiction to vacate the arbitration award. We are unpersuaded.
The plaintiff satisfied the jurisdictional requirement of § 52-420 (b) by filing its application to vacate the arbitration award on September 13,1991, within the thirty day time period. The trial court, DeMayo, J., satisfied the requirements of Practice Book § 525 by issuing a citation and directing the defendant to appear on October 25,1991, and to show cause, if any, why the plaintiffs application should not be granted. The court also set forth a twelve day time period within which the defendant had to have been served with notice of the hearing date.
Although the defendant contends that the plaintiffs failure to comply with this time limit deprived the trial court of jurisdiction, the plaintiffs failure to serve the defendant within that time period did not remove the trial court’s subject matter jurisdiction over the proceedings. The only jurisdictional requirement in filing a motion to vacate an arbitration award is that it be filed with the trial court within thirty days of the moving party’s notice of the arbitration award. Because the plaintiff complied with this requirement, the trial court had subject matter jurisdiction. The only other requirement is that the nonmoving party receive notice of the
II
The defendant next claims that the trial court incorrectly concluded that the public policy underlying Connecticut’s uninsured or underinsured motorist insurance laws
Under the policies issued by the plaintiff, a covered person includes a resident relative of the named insured who does not own a car. The parties agree that as a matter of contract construction, the defendant does not come within this definition because at the time of the
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other justices concurred.
The policies issued by the plaintiff to the defendant’s father and sister provide in pertinent part: “You, your, yourself means the person named on the declarations page and the person’s husband or wife if a resident of the same household.
“You, your, yourself also means a member of the family who is a resident of the household and who doesn’t own a car or whose spouse doesn’t own a car.” (Emphasis added.)
General Statutes § 52-420 provides: “(a) Any application under section 52-417, 52-418 or 52-419 shall be heard in the manner provided by law for hearing written motions at a short calendar session, or otherwise as the court or judge may direct, in order to dispose of the case with the least possible delay.
“(b) No motion to vacate, modify or correct an award may be made after thirty days from the notice of the award to the party to the arbitration who makes the motion.
“(c) For the purpose of a motion to vacate, modify or correct an award, such an order staying any proceedings of the adverse party to enforce the award shall be made as may be deemed necessary. Upon the granting of an order confirming, modifying or correcting an award, a judgment or decree shall be entered in conformity therewith by the court or judge granting the order.”
The defendant also filed a motion to strike the docket number of the October 25,1991 motion to vacate, upon which the trial court never acted.
Practice Book § 525 provides: “In proceedings brought for confirming, vacating or correcting an arbitration award under Gen. Stat., §§ 52-417, 52-418 or 52-419, the court or judge to whom the application is made shall cause to be issued a citation directing the adverse party or parties in the arbitration proceeding to appear on a day certain and show cause, if any there be, why the application should not be granted.”
General Statutes § 52-420 (a) provides that an application to vacate an arbitration award “shall be heard in the manner provided by law for hearing written motions at a short calendar session, or otherwise as the court or judge may direct, in order to dispose of the case with the least possible delay.” Service of process of short calendar written motions is governed by Practice Book §§ 196 and 120. Those sections merely require that service of a motion be made by mail unless the moving party is asserting new or additional claims, in which case service must be done in hand. Practice Book § 121 (c). The defendant’s only challenge to the manner in which service was made relates to timeliness.
The defendant does not dispute that timely and proper notice was served prior to the new hearing date in accordance with the second order. Because the defendant was properly served, the trial court had personal jurisdiction over the defendant.
The defendant also contends that the trial court should have assigned two separate docket numbers to the plaintiff’s motions to vacate because the motions related to separate and different cases. The defendant’s argument is based upon the premise that the first motion to vacate was invalid and thus the second motion to vacate was a new proceeding. As stated above, however, the first motion to vacate was properly filed. There was no reason, therefore, to assign a second docket number to the second motion because it did not begin a new proceeding. The second motion to vacate was merely a request to reschedule the hearing date.
“[Sjtatutory provisions relating expressly to uninsured motorist coverage apply also to underinsured motorists.” American Motorists Ins. Co. v. Gould, 213 Conn. 625, 628, 569 A.2d 1105 (1990); see Hotkowski v. Aetna Life & Casualty Co., 224 Conn. 145, 151, 617 A.2d 451 (1992).