Hunter v. Shrestha

Citations

• 195 Conn. App. 393

Syllabus

The plaintiffs appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court dismissing for lack of subject matter jurisdiction their third-party petition for visitation as to the minor child of the defendant. In dismissing the petition, the trial court determined that the plaintiffs failed to set forth the specific, good faith allegations required to satisfy the jurisdictional pleading requirements set forth in Roth v. Weston (259 Conn. 202), specifically, that the plaintiffs have a parent-like relationship with the child and that the denial of visitation will cause real and significant harm to the child. Held that the trial court properly dismissed the plain- tiffs' petition for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, the plaintiffs having failed to plead the requisite level of harm under the second element of Roth; although the plaintiffs alleged that the denial of visitation would cut the child off from the maternal side of her family, have the effect of the child feeling that the plaintiffs abandoned her, compound the child's early childhood trauma and harm her, the plaintiffs did not allege with sufficient specificity how the child would be harmed, and, without more, those allegations did not rise to the level of abuse, neglect or abandonment contemplated by Roth. Argued October 8, 2019—officially released January 21, 2020