Veneziano v. Veneziano

Citations

• 205 Conn. App. 718

Syllabus

The defendant, whose marriage to the plaintiff had previously been dis- solved, appealed to this court from the decision of the trial court denying his motion to open the judgment of dissolution on the basis of, inter alia, fraud. The defendant claimed that the court erred by, sua sponte, quashing certain subpoenas he issued in connection with his motion to open the judgment and in finding that he failed to establish probable cause that the dissolution judgment was procured through fraud or mutual mistake. Held: 1. The defendant could not prevail on his claim that the trial court abused its discretion in quashing the subpoenas at issue because the underlying civil action resulting in a final judgment of dissolution had been resolved and there was no active civil matter pending that would have permitted the defendant to subpoena witnesses and to conduct discovery in con- nection with his motion to open the judgment: the court properly inter- preted the applicable legal principle of Oneglia v. Oneglia (14 Conn. App. 267), that once a court has rendered a final judgment, until and unless the court has opened that judgment, there can be no civil action within the meaning of the applicable statute (§ 52-197) or rule of practice (§ 13-2); moreover, because the fraud alleged by the defendant took place prior to the rendering of the judgment of dissolution, the motion to open did not implicate the trial court's continuing jurisdiction over an outstanding order; furthermore, because the plaintiff filed certain motions for contempt to effectuate and enforce orders of the court issued after it had rendered its judgment of dissolution, and the plaintiff did not take issue with the underlying judgment but, rather, the defen- dant's failure to comply with it, there was no active civil matter pending that gave the defendant the authority to issue subpoenas in connection with his unrelated motion to open the judgment, as a party may file a motion for contempt before or after judgme