58 Conn. App. 373 | Conn. App. Ct. | 2000
Opinion
The plaintiff, Suzanne M. Searles, appeals from the trial court’s denial of her motion to open the judgment dismissing her complaint because
The following facts and procedural history are relevant to our resolution of this appeal. On April 24, 1995, the plaintiff, pro se, instituted the present action against the named defendant, Natalie Schulman, alleging an assault in a local grocery store. The complaint also named a codefendant who was a member of the West Hartford board of education (board), claiming that the board illegally had terminated her contract as a teacher.
On April 1,1996, the plaintiff sought to join this action with the matters pending in this court and other actions pending in the federal court system.
On January 6, 1997, the named defendant
On October 26, 1998, the plaintiff filed a motion to open the judgment of dismissal, which motion the court denied on November 9,1998. The plaintiff has appealed from this order. The sole issue on appeal is whether the trial court abused its discretion when it refused to open the judgment dismissing the present action
“The denial of a motion to open is an appealable final judgment. . . . Although a motion to open can be filed within four months of a judgment . . . the filing of such a motion does not extend the appeal period for challenging the merits of the underlying judgment unless filed within the [twenty day period provided by Practice Book § 63-1].
The plaintiff is not able to attack the trial court’s decision dismissing her complaint because she failed to file an appeal within twenty days after her complaint was dismissed on September 11, 1998, and the motion to open the judgment was also not filed within the twenty day period. See Charbonneau v. Charbonneau, 51 Conn. App. 311, 312, 721 A.2d 565 (1998), cert. denied, 247 Conn. 964, 724 A.2d 1125 (1999) (precluding party from appealing merits of case because neither motion to open nor appeal from underlying judgment was filed within twenty day appeal period). The only issue for us to decide, therefore, is whether the trial court abused its discretion in failing to open the judgment.
It is well established that “[a] motion to open and vacate a judgment ... is addressed to the [trial]
Although the plaintiff in her motion to open dated October 26, 1996, stated that she was unable to attend the scheduled trial management conference because of out of state medical “appointments,” there is nothing in the record verifying the appointments or indicating why these appointments could not be rescheduled. The other reason advanced by the plaintiff in her motion, also unsubstantiated, was that the wrongful termination of her teaching contract had left her homeless. The plaintiff has not met her burden of demonstrating that the court abused its discretion. See Burke v. Ruggerio, 24 Conn. App. 700, 706, 591 A.2d 453, cert. denied, 220 Conn. 903, 593 A.2d 967 (1991). After examining the entire record and making every reasonable presumption in favor of the court’s action; Brunswick School, Inc. v. Hutler, 53 Conn. App. 455, 460, 730 A.2d 1206 (1999); we conclude that the court did not abuse its discretion
The denial of the plaintiffs motion to open the judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
The plaintiff had instituted prior actions alleging wrongful termination of her teaching contract, which were resolved in favor of the board. Searles v. Board of Education, 40 Conn. App. 901, 668 A.2d 399, cert. denied, 236 Conn. 917, 673 A.2d 1143 (1996); Searles v. Board of Education, 40 Conn. App. 902, 668 A.2d 399, cert. denied, 236 Conn. 916, 673 A.2d 1142 (1996). Both of these matters were on appeal in this court at the time the present action was instituted.
The additional amended complaints were dated October 30, 1995, April 1, 1996, and April 12, 1996.
According to the plaintiffs motion for joinder, there were two matters pending in federal court.
According to the plaintiffs motion for joinder, these entities were defendants in an unrelated action filed by the plaintiff: Searles v. River Mead Homeowners’ Assn., Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, Docket No. CV-96-0557401-S.
According to the plaintiffs motion for joinder, the foreclosure action was River Mead Condominium Assn., Inc. v. Searles, Superior Court, judicial district of New Britain, Docket No. 95-0467666-S.
Because the cases against all of the codefendants were dismissed, the defendant, when mentioned herein, refers to Schulman only.
The plaintiff raises several other claims, which we need not address because our resolution of this claim is dispositive.
Practice Book § 63-1 (a) provides in relevant part that “an appeal must be filed within twenty days of the date notice of the judgment ... is given. ...”