State ex rel. Dunn v. Burton

Syllabus

The defendant appealed from the judgment of the trial court vesting in the plaintiff ownership of numerous goats in the defendant's possession found to be neglected and cruelly treated and from the judgment of the court dismissing the defendant's counterclaim. The defendant claimed, inter alia, that the court improperly determined that she failed to comply with its order to relinquish ownership of the goats or pay a surety or cash bond by the deadline. Held: The defendant's claim that the trial court lacked jurisdiction over the verified petition to vest temporary custody of the goats with the Department of Agriculture failed because the petition sufficiently detailed the defendant's neglect and cruel treatment of the goats so as to comply with the require- ments of the governing statute ((Supp. 2022) § 22-329a (c)). This court declined to review the defendant's inadequately briefed claims that the trial court improperly denied her motion to suppress certain evi- dence, that it did not decide her motion to relinquish the goats in a timely manner, that it improperly denied her motion to relinquish, that § 22-329a is unconstitutional on its face and as applied in the present case, and that the trial court improperly dismissed her counterclaim, in part, on the ground of sovereign immunity. This court could not conclude that the defendant was denied due process when she was not allowed to present her motion to suppress certain evidence at the hearing regarding the temporary custody of the goats, as that hearing resulted in only an order of temporary custody of the goats and, had the defendant posted bond as required by § 22-329a (f), she could have presented her concerns about the evidence at a subsequent hearing. This court declined to review the defendant's claim that she was entitled to notice and a hearing prior to the seizure of her goats pursuant to statute (§ 19a-341), the defendant having failed to identify where in the voluminous record the trial court's ruling