Housing Authority v. Stevens

Citations

• 209 Conn. App. 569

Syllabus

The plaintiff housing authority sought, by way of summary process, to regain possession of certain premises leased to the defendant tenant. The plaintiff served on the defendant a notice to quit possession of the premises alleging that the defendant's conduct constituted a serious nuisance under the applicable statute (§ 47a-15 (B) and (C)). Thereafter, the plaintiff commenced this summary process action by serving on the defendant a summons and complaint. The defendant filed an answer and special defenses alleging, among other things, that he was entitled to an accommodation because of his psychiatric disability. Subsequently, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdic- tion because the plaintiff had not issued a pretermination notice. The trial court rendered judgment of possession in favor of the plaintiff on the basis of the defendant's violation of § 47a-15 (C) and denied the defendant's motion to dismiss, from which the defendant appealed to this court. Held: 1. The trial court had subject matter jurisdiction over this summary process action: the notice to quit issued by the plaintiff, which complied with statutory requirements (§ 47a-23), provided the court with jurisdiction over the plaintiff's claims; moreover, given that the plaintiff alleged that the defendant's conduct constituted a serious nuisance, the plain and unambiguous language of § 47a-15 made clear that the plaintiff was not required to serve a pretermination notice on the defendant, and, therefore, the lack thereof did not deprive the court of subject matter jurisdiction; furthermore, the court did not need to reach the merits of whether the defendant's conduct did, in fact, constitute a serious nui- sance in order to exercise jurisdiction over this action. 2. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the court improperly rendered judgment for the plaintiff because his acts or omissions did not constitute a serious nuisance within the meaning of § 47a-15