Northeast Builders Supply & Home Centers, LLC v. RMM Consulting, LLC

Citations

• 202 Conn. App. 315

Syllabus

The plaintiff, a building supply company, sought to recover damages from the defendants for breach of contract after they failed to make payments owed for building materials sold to them pursuant to a credit agreement. The credit agreement was signed by the defendant M, who was the sole member of the defendants R Co. and T Co., and by the defendant J, M's husband and a building contractor, in their capacities as both buyers and personal guarantors. The defendants filed a five count counterclaim and the plaintiff moved to strike four of the counts on the ground that they did not arise out of the same transaction that formed the basis for the plaintiff's complaint. The trial court granted the motion to strike and later rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff on the four stricken counts. Following a trial to the court, the trial court rendered judgment for the plaintiff on its complaint and on the remaining count of the counterclaim alleging breach of contract, from which the defendants appealed to this court. Held: 1. The trial court did not abuse its discretion in granting the plaintiff's motion to strike four counts of the defendants' counterclaim because the counts did not arise out of the same transaction that formed the basis for the complaint: the stricken counts involved issues relating to the plaintiff's use of prejudgment remedies, the propriety of the prejudgment remedies, and their legal effect, and the plaintiff's motivation in utilizing such remedies presented factual and legal issues distinct from those necessary to adjudicate whether the defendants breached the credit agreement; accordingly, the court should have rendered judgment dismissing the counts on the ground of improper joinder, and the case was remanded with direction to render a judgment of dismissal with respect to the stricken counts of the counterclaim. 2. The trial court properly rendered judgment on the merits of the complaint and the counterclaim in favor of the plaintiff: a. The tri