Ferrua v. Napoli Foods, Inc.

Syllabus

The plaintiffs appealed from the trial court's judgment dismissing their complaint alleging, inter alia, abuse of process, after granting a motion to strike filed by two of the defendants, an attorney and his law firm, who had represented the named defendant in workers' compensation proceedings involving the named plaintiff. The plaintiffs claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly concluded that they had failed to sufficiently plead an actionable abuse of process claim. Held: This court dismissed the plaintiffs' appeal as moot because they did not challenge on appeal the trial court's conclusion that their action was barred by the workers' compensation exclusivity provision in the statute (§ 31-284 (a)), an independent ground expressly relied on by the trial court to support the granting of the defendants' motion to strike, and, accordingly, this court was unable to afford the plaintiffs practical relief in connection with their properly briefed claims on appeal. Argued October 15—officially released December 30, 2025