Wahba v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.

Citations

• 216 Conn. App. 236

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court's judgment of strict foreclosure in favor of the defendant bank, rendered on remand from this court. On the plaintiff's previous appeal, this court had affirmed a judgment of strict foreclosure rendered in favor of the defendant and remanded the case solely for the purpose of setting new law days. On remand, the defendant filed a motion to reset the law days. The plaintiff objected, contending that the original judgment of strict foreclosure was based on a 2017 appraisal that did not consider a steep rise in Connecticut property values that had occurred since the trial court had rendered judgment. The plaintiff argued that the defendant should be required to file a motion to open the judgment and submit an updated appraisal and updated debt figures to allow the trial court to determine whether strict foreclosure or foreclosure by sale was appropriate. The trial court rejected the plaintiff's argument, reasoning that it was bound by the rescript of this court in in the previous appeal, Wahba v. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. (200 Conn. App. 852), to only set new law days. Held that the plaintiff could not prevail on her claim that the trial court, in rendering its subsequent judgment of strict foreclosure, erred in interpre- ting this court's remand order as prohibiting it from changing the nature of the judgment to a foreclosure by sale: the plaintiff's claim was fore- closed by Connecticut National Bank v. Zuckerman (31 Conn. App. 440), in which this court reasoned that, on remand from an appellate court, a trial court cannot deviate from the directions given by the appellate court; moreover, even if it is assumed that the trial court had the authority, following remand, to change the nature of the judgment to a foreclosure by sale, the plaintiff failed to file a motion to open the judgment for such purpose, nor did she preserve her claim by providing the trial court with an evidentiary foundation to support her argument, whic