Connecticut Housing Finance Authority v. McCarthy

Citations

• 204 Conn. App. 330

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to foreclose a mortgage on certain real property owned by the named defendant, M. At M's request, the trial court assigned the case to the foreclosure mediation program. The mediation, however, did not take place because of M's failure to attend three out of four of the required premediation meetings. Thereafter, the plaintiff filed a motion for a judgment of strict foreclosure, which the court granted following M's default for failure to plead. On August 21, 2017, the court rendered a judgment of strict foreclosure, determined the amount of the debt owed, and set M's law day. M then filed a motion to open the judgment and extend the law day, claiming that her default was due to an increase in her mortgage payments based on a dispute that arose in relation to the payment of her condominium association fees. She also filed a petition for reinclusion into the foreclosure mediation program, asserting that she wanted to modify the mortgage and retain the property. The mediation proved unsuccessful, as the plaintiff did not believe that the property was M's primary residence and M did not have the lump sum required under the modification agreement to reinstate the mortgage. Between January and August, 2018, M filed her second, third and fourth motions to open the judgement and extend the law day, indicating in each that she anticipated being able to pay off the amount required to reinstate the mortgage. The court granted all of these motions. M then filed her fifth motion to open the judgment and extend the law day, claiming for the first time that there were discrepancies regarding the reinstatement figure that needed to be resolved. The court denied the motion but extended the law day. The court also denied M's sixth and seventh motions to open the judgment, in which M reiterated her claim that the amount of the debt was disputed, but the court again set new law days. Thereafter, the court denied M's eighth motion to open the judgment and her secon