Jackson v. Pennymac Loan Services, LLC

Citations

• 205 Conn. App. 189

Syllabus

The plaintiffs appealed from the trial court's dismissal of their action against the defendant, a mortgage servicing company, in which they alleged that the defendant violated the mortgage release statute (§ 49-8) by failing to provide a timely and valid release of their mortgage. The court dismissed the action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction due to the plaintiffs' alleged failure to demonstrate their compliance with the requirements of § 49-8 (c) regarding the statutory demand notice for release of the mortgage. This ground was not argued by the defendant in its motion to dismiss. On appeal, the plaintiffs claimed that the trial court deprived them of due process by dismissing their action on a ground that the court raised sua sponte without affording them notice or an opportunity to be heard. Held: 1. The trial court improperly granted the motion to dismiss, as that court improperly addressed, sua sponte, the issue of the plaintiffs' alleged noncompliance with the statutory demand notice requirements in § 49- 8 (c) without first providing the plaintiffs with notice or a reasonable opportunity to submit evidence of their compliance with those require- ments; the plaintiffs were not given the opportunity to contest whether they were required to demonstrate on the notice that was attached to the complaint that the notice had been received by the defendant or its attorney, and the defendant's special defenses that alleged that the plaintiffs failed to satisfy all conditions precedent, including sending the required written demand notice to the defendant, were insufficient to place the plaintiffs on notice that they were required to demonstrate that they complied with the notice requirements of § 49-8 (c); moreover, any alleged failure to satisfy the written demand notice requirements did not deprive the court of jurisdiction to hear the matter, but rather impacted the court's authority to grant the relief sought by the plaintiffs; furthermore, regardless of wh