Strazza Building & Construction, Inc. v. Harris

Citations

• 207 Conn. App. 649

Syllabus

The defendants H and T appealed from the judgment of the trial court denying their motion for summary judgment against the plaintiff, S Co. H served as trustee for T, a trust that owned certain real property where she resided. The defendants hired S Co. as a general contractor for renovations to the home located on the property, and, after a dispute, the defendants terminated S Co. S Co. and two subcontractors, R Co. and I Co., filed mechanic's liens claiming unpaid balances. H, as trustee for T, initiated a separate action against R Co. seeking to reduce or discharge R Co.'s lien. S Co. subsequently commenced this action to foreclose on its mechanic's lien. The trial court in the separate action found that the lienable fund for S Co.'s contract was exhausted and concluded that R Co.'s lien was invalid. Subsequently, the court denied the defendants' motion for summary judgment in the present case, con- cluding that there was a genuine issue of material fact with respect to whether there was sufficient privity between R Co. and S Co. so as to preclude S Co. from pursuing its claims, and this appeal followed. Held: 1. The defendants could not prevail on their claim that the court failed to apply the doctrine of res judicata, thereby improperly denying their motion for summary judgment: a. The trial court correctly analyzed the issue of privity: although our Supreme Court concluded in Girolametti v. Michael Horton Associates, Inc. (332 Conn. 67) that the presumption of privity arises from the ''flow down'' obligation that a general contractor owes to a subcontractor, there is no corresponding ''flow up'' obligation extending from a subcon- tractor to a general contractor, and, thus, the court improperly applied the presumption of privity in this case; nevertheless, the trial court, on the basis of certain factual findings, thoroughly analyzed the issue of privity and correctly concluded, under the functional relationship test, that a genuine issue of material fact exis