Edgewood Properties, LLC v. Dynamic Multimedia, LLC

Citations

• 226 Conn. App. 583

Syllabus

The defendants appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court rendered for the plaintiff, who commenced this summary process evic- tion proceeding. The defendants entered into a written lease agreement with O with respect to certain residential property. O died and the property was sold to the plaintiff. Although the plaintiff demanded that the defendants vacate the property, the defendants refused to do so, and the plaintiff served the defendants with notices to quit. After trial commenced, the court denied the defendants' motions in limine to pres- ent evidence of an alleged settlement and to summarily enforce a settle- ment agreement. Held: 1. This court concluded that, although the trial court improperly determined that the plaintiff was entitled to a judgment of possession of the property based on lapse of time, the defendants were not entitled to relief with respect to this claim: the only evidence of a written lease agreement was the agreement between O and the defendants, an agreement that ended, pursuant to its terms, when title to the property was transferred to the plaintiff, and, accordingly, the trial court erred in finding the existence of a rental agreement between the parties and the judgment could not be sustained on the ground of lapse of time; moreover, the plaintiff was entitled to judgment in its favor on the alternative ground that the defendants' privilege or right to occupy the property had expired, as it was undisputed that the property was sold to the plaintiff and the defendants remained in possession of the property. 2. The trial court properly denied the defendants' motion in limine to present evidence of a purported settlement agreement between the parties: although the motion in limine described the evidence the defendants wanted to present, it did not address the prejudice that could result, and the court reasonably considered this motion in light of the defendants' motion to enforce a purported settlement agreement and d