Taylor v. Pollner

Citations

• 210 Conn. App. 340

Syllabus

The plaintiff sought to acquire title to a certain parcel of the defendant's real property through adverse possession, and the defendant filed a counterclaim seeking to quiet title. The trial court ordered the parties to respond to discovery and appear for depositions by a certain date, stating that the failure to comply with its order could result in sanctions, including, inter alia, fines. Thereafter, the plaintiff moved for an exten- sion of time for his deposition, which the court denied. The defendant, represented by two law firms, filed two motions for order pursuant to the rule of practice (§ 1-21A), requesting that the plaintiff pay her attor- ney's fees and claiming that the plaintiff failed to respond to discovery in a timely manner, had failed to appear substantively at his deposition, and had executed documents under oath after previously indicating his inability to do so, and her counsel attached affidavits thereto. The plain- tiff did not object or respond to the defendant's motions for order. The plaintiff thereafter withdrew his complaint. The matter was tried to the court, which rendered judgment for the defendant as to her counter- claim, quieting title to the property. The court granted the motions for order and ordered monetary sanctions against the plaintiff comprised of attorney's fees in the amounts of $4859.55 and $5800, reasoning that the plaintiff failed to comply with the court's scheduling order and his discovery obligations and failed to respond to several of the defendant's motions. The plaintiff appealed to this court, claiming, inter alia, that the trial court abused its discretion in awarding monetary sanctions to compensate the defendant for attorney's fees. Held that this court declined to review the plaintiff's claims that the trial court's award of attorney's fees to the defendant was improper and that those fees were excessive, unreasonable, and clearly erroneous: in accordance with Smith v. Snyder (267 Conn. 456), which indicat