Deutsche Bank Trust Co. Americas v. Burke

Citations

• 235 Conn. App. 184

Syllabus

The defendant property owners appealed from the trial court's judgment granting the plaintiff bank's application for execution of ejectment and from the court's denial of their motion for judgment on the plaintiff's claim for money damages under the mortgage note. This court, in a prior appeal, affirmed the trial court's judgment of strict foreclosure, and, thereafter, the trial court granted the plaintiff's motion for order to set new law days. Prior to the running of the law days, the court denied the defendants' motion to open the judgment and extend the law days. On appeal, the defendants claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly granted the plaintiff's applica- tion for execution of ejectment on the ground that their objection thereto was moot. Held: This court rejected the plaintiff's challenge to this court's subject matter jurisdiction over the appeal, as the law day set by the trial court was rendered ineffective by the automatic appellate stay that arose after the denial of the plaintiff's motion to open and, therefore, title to the property had not passed irrevocably to the plaintiff and the appeal was not moot. The trial court abused its discretion in relying on the scheduled law day to conclude that the defendants' objection to the application for execution of ejectment was moot, as the court's denial of the defendants' motion to open gave rise to an automatic appellate stay, which rendered the scheduled law day ineffective, and therefore title had not yet vested in the plaintiff. This court declined to review the merits of the defendants' claim that the trial court improperly denied their motion for judgment on the plaintiff's claim for money damages under the mortgage note, the defendants having failed to provide this court with an adequate record for review. Argued June 2—officially released September 16, 2025