Johnson v. Johnson

Citations

• 203 Conn. App. 405

Syllabus

The defendant, whose marriage to the plaintiff had been dissolved, appealed to this court following the decisions of the trial court granting the plaintiff's motions for contempt and issuing certain other orders. After the trial court granted the plaintiff's motions for postsecondary educa- tional support for the parties' son and for modification of the defendant's child support and alimony obligations, the court denied the defendant's motions for reargument, and he appealed to this court, which dismissed as untimely that portion of the appeal that pertained to the educational support and alimony and child support orders. The defendant then filed an amended appeal challenging the trial court's order that he reimburse the plaintiff for interest on funds she had to borrow as a result of his wilful noncompliance with the educational support order. The trial court then issued a correction to that order, and granted the plaintiff's motions for contempt as a result of the defendant's failure to comply with the educational support order or the child support and alimony orders. The defendant then filed a second amended appeal after which this court issued an order limiting the issues he could raise in this appeal as a result of his having listed the trial court's initial support orders on his amended appeal forms despite the previous dismissal of his appeal as to those orders. On appeal, the defendant claimed, inter alia, that the trial court misinterpreted the parties' separation agreement, which had been incorporated into the dissolution judgment, and, thus, erred in entering the associated support orders. Held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court committed plain error by imposing its own findings and interpretation of the separa- tion agreement and acting in a manner that gave rise to the appearance of a lack of impartiality: the defendant's assertion as to the separation agreement and the associated support orders was based on a flawed i