In re Brian P.

Syllabus

The paternal grandmother, S, of the minor child, B, appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court denying her motion to intervene, which was filed after the court granted the petition of the Commissioner of Children and Families to terminate the parental rights of the respon- dents, the mother and father of B. On appeal, S claimed that the court improperly denied her motion to intervene. Held that this court lacked subject matter jurisdiction and, accordingly, dismissed the appeal: S neither initiated the action nor was the action brought against her, and the trial court denied her motion to intervene, thus, S was never a party to the action, and lacked standing to appeal; moreover, S did not have a colorable claim to intervention as a matter of right pursuant to the applicable statute (§ 52-263), because S filed her motion to intervene more than two years after the commissioner filed the neglect petition, approximately two years after B was committed to the custody of the commissioner, more than one year after the commissioner filed a termi- nation of parental rights petition, and nearly one month after the judg- ment was rendered terminating the respondents' parental rights; S was aware of the proceedings and waited to attempt to intervene until after the termination judgment was rendered, and, S's claim that she could not prevail on a motion for permanent guardianship pursuant to the applicable statute (§ 46b-129 (j) (6)) until after the court found that a statutory ground for termination existed was unavailing, as this claim misinterpreted the plain language of §46b-129 (j) (6), which sets forth findings that a court must make prior to issuing an order for permanent legal guardianship and does not address the issue of the timeliness of a motion to intervene and, furthermore, permanent guardianship is intended to occur without the termination of parental rights; S's untimeliness was evident by the fact that the court had already appointed the commis