307 White Street Realty, LLC v. Beaver Brook Group, LLC

Citations

• 216 Conn. App. 750

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought, inter alia, specific performance of an option to purchase certain real property that it had been leasing from the defendant and to recover damages for unjust enrichment. The option to purchase clause was contained in the parties' commercial lease agreement. After the plaintiff filed its complaint, the court granted multiple continuances while the parties engaged in settlement negotiations, during which time the parties entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the property. Thereafter, the defendant filed an answer and special defense, namely, that the purchase and sale agreement superseded the option to purchase in the lease agreement and rendered the action moot. Eight days prior to trial, the defendant moved to dismiss the action, reiterating the mootness argument made in its special defense. Specifically, the defendant argued that the action was moot because it sought the interpretation and enforcement of a lease option that was no longer in effect, depriving the court of subject matter jurisdiction. The plaintiff opposed the motion to dismiss, arguing that the purchase and sale agreement was an execu- tory accord, which was executed as part of the parties' efforts to settle the underlying litigation and which was intended to have no legal effect unless and until the sale actually occurred. Following a hearing, which was limited to the arguments of counsel, the court granted the defend- ant's motion to dismiss, concluding that it lacked subject matter jurisdic- tion because, although the allegations in the complaint contemplated an action under the option to purchase clause of the lease agreement, the purchase and sale agreement was the controlling contract for the sale of the property. From the judgment of dismissal, the plaintiff appealed to this court. Held: 1. The trial court improperly granted the defendant's motion to dismiss as that court improperly determined that the defendant's motion to dismiss, which was premised on the arg