Conroy v. Idlibi

Citations

• 343 Conn. 201

Syllabus

Following the dissolution of the parties' marriage, the defendant filed a motion to open the dissolution judgment, claiming that the plaintiff had committed fraud during the dissolution proceedings by submitting a 202 MAY, 2022 343 Conn. 201 Conroy v. Idlibi false response to an interrogatory in which she denied the existence of a sexual relationship with another man during the parties' marriage and by falsely testifying at trial that the defendant had physically assaulted her. The trial court denied the motion, concluding that the defendant's allegations of fraud, even if proven to be true, would not have altered the disposition of the parties' divorce. The defendant appealed to the Appellate Court, which upheld the trial court's denial of the defendant's motion to open. On the granting of certification, the defendant appealed to this court. Held that the Appellate Court correctly concluded that the trial court had not abused its discretion in denying the defendant's motion to open: even if there were merit to the defendant's contention that the dissolution court was factually mistaken about the true nature of the plaintiff's extramarital affair, such a mistake could not have been caused by the allegedly fraudulent response to the interrogatory, as the defendant acknowledged, in his prior, direct appeal from the dissolution judgment, that the plaintiff had confessed to the dissolution court that her response to the interrogatory in which she denied the existence of a sexual relationship with another man during the marriage was a lie, and, therefore, it was reasonable to infer that this falsehood did not impact the dissolution court's judgment; moreover, the defendant's claim of fraud with respect to the plaintiff's allegation of assault was unavail- ing, as the dissolution court found that the plaintiff's account of the alleged assault lacked credibility, and, accordingly, it was reasonable for the trial court to conclude that additional evidence about the alleged