Raymond v. Briere

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment awarding the defendant primary physical custody of the parties' minor child, M. She claimed, inter alia, that the court erred by admitting evidence of her conduct related to her efforts to research and report alleged criminal activity to law enforcement, specifically, testimony from multiple people that the plaintiff had become fixated with, inter alia, human trafficking and cyberstalking and that those beliefs and her related conduct were affecting M. Held: The trial court properly considered evidence of the plaintiff's actions in reaching its decision that it was in M's best interest for the defendant to maintain primary physical custody, as, pursuant to the statute (§ 46b-56) pertaining to the issuance of custody orders, the court focused on the plaintiff's conduct and how that conduct impacted her ability to provide proper care for M. This court declined to reverse the trial court's judgment pursuant to the plain error doctrine on the basis of the plaintiff's unpreserved claim of judicial bias, as the plaintiff did not file a motion to disqualify in the trial court and did not establish that the trial court acted in a biased or partial manner. The trial court improperly ordered the plaintiff to undergo a psychological evaluation and comply with any treatment requirements resulting from such evaluation as part of its final custody order, as, pursuant to statute (§ 46b- 6), the court's authority to issue such an order was limited to pending matters; accordingly, the judgment was reversed in part and the order to undergo a psychological evaluation was vacated. Argued September 10—officially released December 9, 2025