Barr v. Barr

Citations

• 195 Conn. App. 479

Syllabus

The defendant, whose marriage to the plaintiff previously had been dis- solved, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court granting the plaintiff's postjudgment motion for contempt. The plaintiff had filed five postjudgment motions for contempt alleging the defen- dant's noncompliance with various dissolution orders. The court granted three of the motions and issued orders thereon, after which the plaintiff filed a sixth postjudgment motion for contempt, seeking an order holding the defendant in contempt for failing to comply with the court's orders. By the time the plaintiff filed this motion, the defendant had moved his residence to Georgia. The plaintiff's counsel certified the motion to an address in Georgia on file for the defendant and to his e-mail address on file, but the defendant was not served personally. Held that the trial court improperly granted the motion for contempt because the plaintiff did not properly serve the defendant with process: the defendant's claim was reviewable because it challenged the court's personal jurisdiction, and that issue was not waived because there had been no service of process or attempt of service; moreover, a postjudgment motion for contempt filed for the purpose of enforcing an antecedent judicial order requires proper service of process and the plaintiff made no attempt to serve the defendant with process, rather, the plaintiff's counsel certified that a copy of the motion was mailed to the defendant's address in Georgia and e-mailed to the defendant's e-mail address on file, and whether the plaintiff's attempts to provide the defendant with mail or e-mail actually occurred, or whether they provided the defendant with actual notice of the motion, was immaterial because knowledge of the motion, without proper service, was insufficient to confer personal juris- diction. Argued November 13, 2019—officially released January 28, 2020