Birch Groves Assn., Inc. v. Jordon

Citations

• 233 Conn. App. 488

Syllabus

The defendant property owner appealed from the trial court's judgments of foreclosure by sale rendered for the plaintiff homeowners association in its action to foreclose water liens on two of the defendant's properties located within the community served by the plaintiff. The defendant claimed, inter alia, that the court abused its discretion by not vacating her default for failure to plead. Held: The trial court correctly determined that the plaintiff's amended complaint, which was filed after the defendant had been defaulted and which sought to foreclose on an additional three years' worth of unpaid water liens, did not make any substantial changes to the cause of action or interject new material issues into the case and, therefore, did not extinguish the defen- dant's default. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by not setting aside the default for good cause shown pursuant to the rule of practice (§ 17-42) because, even if the defendant were correct that her delay in pleading did not cause prejudice to the plaintiff, her motion did not allege any facts demonstrating that good cause existed to set aside the default that she failed to address for nearly three years. This court declined to review the defendant's inadequately briefed claim that the trial court improperly relied on the plaintiff's affidavit of debt in rendering the foreclosure judgments. Argued March 17—officially released July 1, 2025