SNM II Corp. v. Tango Yankee, LLC

Syllabus

The defendant appealed from the trial court's judgment finding that the defendant had violated the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA) (§ 42-110a et seq.) by charging the plaintiff unauthorized storage fees for its airplane. The plaintiff had delivered the plane to M Co. for certain service and repair work. The plaintiff and M Co. became involved in a dispute regarding payment for that work, and M Co. moved the plane to the defendant's property for storage. On appeal, the defendant claimed that the court erroneously concluded that it violated CUTPA by charging the plaintiff storage fees because those fees were authorized pursuant to statute (§ 49-92g), in that it stored the plane at the request of M Co., which was the legal possessor of the plane at that time. Held: The trial court erroneously concluded that the defendant violated CUTPA by charging the plaintiff storage fees for the plane without the request or consent of the plaintiff, as M Co. was in control of the plane after the plaintiff placed the aircraft in its possession, when M Co. performed the repairs requested by the plaintiff and when M Co. moved the plane to the defendant's property for storage, and, accordingly, because M Co. was the legal possessor of the plane when it requested that the defendant store the plane, the plain language of § 49-92g authorized the defendant to charge the plaintiff for storing the plane and to file a lien on the plane when the storage charges were not paid. Argued November 17, 2025—officially released March 17, 2026