Benchmark Municipal Tax Services, Ltd. v. Greenwood Manor, LLC

Citations

• 194 Conn. App. 432

Syllabus

The plaintiff, B Co., sought to foreclose certain municipal property tax liens on property then owned by the defendant, G Co. The trial court granted G Co.'s motion to cite in the city of Bridgeport as a defendant, and G. Co. filed cross claims against the city and a codefendant, M. G Co. claimed, inter alia, that M tortiously interfered with its intended sale of the property to the city and that the city interfered with a proposed zoning change that would have increased the value of the property. Thereafter, the city was substituted as the plaintiff and M Co. was substituted as the defendant. The trial court rendered judgment in favor of the city and M against M Co. on the cross claims and denied M Co.'s motion to reargue. On M Co.'s appeal to this court, held: 1. The trial court did not err in finding that M Co. failed to establish any tortious action by M; the trial court did not credit any evidence offered by M Co. in support of its allegation that M had acted to interfere with negotiations between the city and G Co., which never reached an agreement with the city for a purchase price for the property, and M Co. failed to allege on appeal any legal error or an erroneous factual basis for the trial court's decision. 2. M Co.'s claim that the trial court erred in finding that the city did not tortiously interfere with the business relationship that existed between G Co. and M failed as a matter of law; M Co.'s claim consisted of nothing more than a request for this court to substitute its own evaluation of the evidence for that of the trier of fact, which this court would not do, and M Co. failed to demonstrate that the trial court either misapplied the law or relied on clearly erroneous factual findings in reaching its decision. 3. The trial court did not err in finding that the city did not act improperly to devalue the property; M Co. presented no evidence that any member of the planning and zoning commission acted improperly in deciding not to change the zonin