Hornish v. Suffield

Citations

• 234 Conn. App. 85

Syllabus

The plaintiffs appealed from the Superior Court's judgment dismissing their administrative appeal from the final decision of the defendant Department of Agriculture, which had affirmed a disposal order, issued by an animal control officer for the defendant town, to euthanize the plaintiffs' dog. The plaintiffs claimed, inter alia, that the statute ((Rev. to 2019) § 22-358 (c)) authorizing the euthanizing of the dog was an unconstitutional delegation of legislative authority to the town in violation of the separation of powers doctrine. Held: The plaintiffs could not prevail on their claim that § 22-358 (c) violated the separation of powers doctrine because, pursuant to Bottone v. Westport (209 Conn. 652), the separation of powers doctrine does not pertain to delegations of powers from the state legislature to a municipality, and it was clear under the statute (§ 22-331) governing the appointment of munici- pal animal control officers that the legislature has delegated the enforcement of dog bite statutes to municipalities pursuant to § 22-331 (b), and the animal control officer who issued the disposal order regarding the plaintiffs' dog was an employee of the town. The plaintiffs failed to satisfy their burden of showing that the department's hearing officer violated their procedural rights under the Uniform Adminis- trative Procedure Act (§ 4-166 et seq.) and deprived them of a fair hearing. Argued April 14—officially released July 29, 2025