Advance Release Opinions – November 9

Connecticut Appellate Court

The Appellate Court advance released one opinion and it was in the area of foreclosure.

Foreclosure

Sovereign Bank v. Licata – Sometimes you read an opinion and you wonder how the case could ever get to where it is. This is one of those. But on reflection you can kind of understand it. The important events are 10 years old, a lot of different lawyers and judges involved over time, no formal orders for some things – you get the idea. Here’s what happened: Bank sought foreclosure and defendant counterclaimed. Foreclosure was tried to the court and the counterclaim was tried to a jury. Court found for bank on the foreclosure claim and orally set law days to commence on February 6, 2007. Jury found for defendant on counterclaim and awarded damages. There was some post-judgment wrangling about the counterclaim judgment. The bank appealed the counterclaim judgment and the defendant cross-appealed the decision on one of the post-judgment motions about the counterclaim judgment. This is where it all broke down. Even though the appeals related only to the counterclaim, everyone – lawyers and judges alike – assumed that the appellate stay had gone into effect as to the foreclosure judgment such that the law days never passed. Though the trial court purported to terminate that stay, no new law days were ever set. Years later – in 2016 – defendant was still living in the house and started groaning that the bank was acting like it owned the joint (trying to sell it) even though no law day had ever passed. That led to motion practice, which led to another appeal. The Appellate Court’s opinion is thorough, detailed and acknowledges that the confusion about the whole thing was justified. But the inescapable conclusion is this: Because no one appealed the foreclosure judgment, the law days passed in February 2007 and the bank has owned the house ever since. Huh, who knew?