53 Conn. App. 387 | Conn. App. Ct. | 1999
Opinion
The matter now before this court arises out of a decision we rendered on March 5, 1996. Rosato v. Rosato, 40 Conn. App. 533, 671 A.2d 838 (1996). The defendant has filed three pleadings captioned (1) motion to present new evidence for consideration, (2) motion to present additional evidence for comprehension of issue for reconsideration and (3) motion to sustain my reconsideration motion and comprehension of issue for reconsideration, respectively.
The genesis of these motions is the July 11, 1988 dissolution of the parties’ marriage when the trial court rendered financial and property distribution orders. Approximately six years later, on March 29, 1995, in response to the defendant’s motion for clarification, the trial court rendered a decision purporting to be a clarification. The plaintiff appealed to this court and, on March 5, 1996, we reversed the trial court’s order for the reason that it “was not a clarification, but an assignment of property interest” that could not be done three years postjudgment.
This is not a court of last resort. If a party disagrees with one of our decisions and feels that we have fallen into error, our rules of procedure provide three avenues of redress: (1) A motion may be filed in this court for reconsideration or reargument pursuant to Practice Book § 71-5 (formerly § 4121) within ten days from the date when the decision being challenged is officially released. (2) A motion may be filed in this court to correct a technical or other minor mistake pursuant to Practice Book § 60-2 (10) (formerly § 4183).
The defendant did not seek timely relief under any of these remedies, and the time for resort to them has long since expired.
We note that when our decision was rendered on March 5,1996, the defendant was represented by counsel. She has furnished us with a copy of a letter from that counsel that unequivocally explained her right to seek certification from the Supreme Court together with that counsel’s opinion that such certification was unlikely to be successful.
The rationale for time limits on postjudgment motions is found in the doctrine of finality of judgments. See Summerville v. Warden, 229 Conn. 397, 427, 641 A.2d 1356 (1994).
The motions are dismissed.
The defendant’s original motion is dated February 15, 1999; the second motion is dated February 28,1999; the third motion is dated March 29,1999. Because of all these motions are of the same tenor, we will consider them together in this decision.
General Statutes § 46b-86 (a), which grants continuing jurisdiction to the trial courts to modify alimony and support orders, expressly excludes continuing jurisdiction in the case of a property assignment.
Query as to the application of this remedy in the present case because § 60-2 (10) is limited to “technical or other minor mistakes in a published opinion which do not affect the rescript.” (Emphasis added.)
The relevant part of the defendant’s counsel’s letter is as follows: “Enclosed is a copy of the Court’s decision in the above-entitled matter. Unfortunately, the Judges hold that Judge Santos could not change the pension allocation decision to a specific percentage in 1995 for a 1988 divorce.
“Our only recourse in attempting to hold onto Judge Santos’ decision is to file for Certification to the Supreme Court. Such an application must be filed within 20 days from publication of the opinion on March 5, 1996. It