Rosenfield v. Cymbala

• Decision Date: 10 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 15172,15172
• Court: Connecticut Court of Appeals
• Parties: Edward ROSENFIELD et al. v. Rose Marie CYMBALA et al.

Page 999

681 A.2d 999

43 Conn.App. 83

Edward ROSENFIELD et al. v. Rose Marie CYMBALA et al.

No. 15172.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Submitted on Briefs May 3, 1996.

Decided Sept. 10, 1996.

Peter N. Upton, Farmington, and Nicole I. Mason, Elmsford, NY, filed a brief for appellant (named plaintiff).

Robert M. Axelrod, Meriden, filed a brief for appellee (named defendant).

Before DUPONT, C.J., and FOTI and SCHALLER, JJ.

DUPONT, Chief Judge.

The sole issue presented by this appeal is whether the trial court properly rendered the summary judgment sought by the defendant Rose Marie Cymbala ¹ against the plaintiffs ² on the ground that their foreclosure action against her is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The pertinent facts and procedural history are not in dispute. The plaintiff brought the present foreclosure action seeking immediate possession of certain real property located in the town of Essex and a deficiency judgment against the defendant. The defendant moved for summary judgment on the ground that the plaintiff's action is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. The trial court, Aurigemma, J., concluded that the mortgage at issue in the present action was the subject of a prior foreclosure action brought by the plaintiff against the defendant. In the prior action, ³ upon conclusion of the plaintiff's case-in-chief, the defendant moved for a judgment of dismissal pursuant to Practice Book § 302 ⁴ for the plaintiff's failure to make out a prima facie case. The trial court, Higgins, J., granted the motion for dismissal, and rendered a judgment dismissing the action. We affirmed that judgment on appeal. Rosenfeld v. Cymbala, 33 Conn.App. 931, 636 A.2d 881 (1994).

The defendant moved for summary judgment in the present action on the issue of liability and claimed that there exists no issue of material fact and that the defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law because the plaintiff's action is barred by the doctrine of res judicata. The plaintiff opposed the defendant's motion for summary judgment, claiming that the merits of the prior action were never reached. The trial court concluded that a "judgment of dismissal rendered by a court pursuant to § 302 of the Practice Book after the plaintiff has rested is a trial on the merits for purposes of the doctrine of res judicata." On that basis, the trial court granted the defendant's motion for summary judgment.

The plaintiff acknowledges that the doctrine of res judicata applies if there is a preexisting judgment on the merits of a case, but claims that in the prior action, the judgment of dismissal rendered pursuant to Practice Book § 302 for the plaintiff's failure to make out a prima facie case is not a judgment on the merits. The defendant responds that because the plaintiff had the opportunity to present his case-in-chief in the prior action, and did so, the judgment of dismissal rendered at the close of his case is a judgment on the merits to which the doctrine of res judicata applies. We agree with the defendant and conclude that, under the facts of the present case, the trial court properly rendered summary judgment in the defendant's favor because the judgment of dismissal rendered in the prior action should be treated as a judgment on the merits ⁵ and, therefore, the principles of res judicata bar the present action.

The standard of review of a trial court's decision granting a motion for summary judgment is well settled and is not challenged in this case. Practice Book § 384 provides that summary judgment "shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law." "In seeking summary judgment, it is the movant who has the burden of showing the nonexistence of any issue of fact." D.H.R. Construction Co. v. Donnelly, 180 Conn. 430, 434, 429 A.2d 908 (1980). A trial court "must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party" when deciding a motion for summary judgment. Connecticut Bank & Trust Co. v. Carriage Lane Associates, 219 Conn. 772, 780-81, 595 A.2d 334 (1991); Remington v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co., 35 Conn.App. 581, 583, 646 A.2d 266 (1994). "The test is whether a party would be entitled to a directed verdict on the same facts." Batick v. Seymour, 186 Conn. 632, 647, 443 A.2d 471 (1982).

Before turning to the plaintiff's claim that a judgment of dismissal rendered pursuant to § 302 for failure to make out a prima facie case is not a judgment on the merits for purposes of applying the doctrine of res judicata, it is necessary to briefly discuss the law of res judicata. "[T]he doctrine of res judicata, or claim preclusion, [provides that] a former judgment on a claim, if rendered on the merits, is an absolute bar to a subsequent action on the same claim. A judgment is final not only as to every matter which was offered to sustain the claim, but also as to any other admissible matter which might have been offered for that purpose. Cromwell v. County of Sac, 94 U.S. 351, 352-53, 24 L.Ed. 195 (1876); 1 Restatement (Second), Judgments §§ 19, 25; James & Hazard, Civil Procedure (2d Ed.) § 11.3." State v. Aillon, 189 Conn. 416, 423-24, 456 A.2d 279, cert. denied, 464 U.S. 837, 104 S.Ct. 124, 78 L.Ed.2d 122 (1983); Delahunty v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins. Co., 236 Conn. 582, 589, 674 A.2d 1290 (1996).

"The rule of claim preclusion prevents reassertion of the same claim regardless of what additional or different evidence or legal theories might be advanced in support of it." Delahunty v. Massachusetts Mutual Life Ins. Co., supra, 236 Conn. at 589, 674 A.2d 1290. In determining whether the judgment is on the same claim as an earlier action so as to trigger the operation of the doctrine of res judicata, our Supreme Court has adopted the transactional test which compares the complaint in the second action with the pleadings and the judgment in the earlier action. Id. at 590, 674 A.2d 1290. Furthermore, "the appropriate inquiry with respect to [claim] preclusion is whether the party had an adequate opportunity to litigate the matter in the earlier proceeding...." (Emphasis in original; internal quotation marks omitted.) Jackson v. R.G. Whipple, Inc., 225 Conn. 705, 717-18, 627 A.2d 374 (1993).

The doctrine of res judicata "should be applied as necessary to promote its underlying purposes. These purposes are generally identified as being '(1) to promote judicial economy by minimizing repetitive litigation; (2) to prevent inconsistent judgments which undermine the integrity of the judicial system; and (3) to provide repose by preventing a person from being harassed by vexatious litigation.' People v. Taylor, 12 Cal.3d 686, 695, 117 Cal.Rptr. 70, 527 P.2d 622 (1974); see generally Vestal, [Res Judicata/Preclusion (1969) ] pp. 7-12; Wright, Miller & Cooper, [Federal Practice and Procedure] § 4403. But by the same token, the internal needs of the judicial system do not outweigh its essential function in providing litigants a legal forum to redress their grievances." State v. Ellis, 197 Conn. 436, 465-66, 497 A.2d 974 (1985); see also Gionfriddo v. Gartenhaus Cafe, 15 Conn.App. 392, 401, 546 A.2d 284 (1988), aff'd, 211 Conn. 67, 557 A.2d 540 (1989).

The pivotal inquiry in this appeal, as framed by the pleadings, is to determine whether the judgment of dismissal rendered pursuant to § 302 in the prior action should be treated as a judgment rendered on the merits. ⁶ There is no statute or rule of practice that expressly determines whether a judgment of dismissal pursuant to § 302 operates as res judicata precluding subsequent litigation of the same cause of action. Therefore, the starting point of our analysis is a review of Connecticut case law regarding the conclusiveness of a judgment rendered as a result of a plaintiff's failure to make out a prima facie case.

Prior to 1978, our rules of practice permitted a court to render a judgment "as in case of a nonsuit" if a plaintiff failed to make out a prima facie case. Practice Book, 1963, § 278. ⁷ A motion for a judgment of dismissal for failure to make out a prima facie case pursuant to § 302 replaced the former motion for judgment as in case of nonsuit for failure to make out a prima facie case. Compare Practice Book § 302 with Practice Book, 1963, § 278; see Lukas v. New Haven, 184 Conn. 205, 210 n. 3, 439 A.2d 949 (1981). Other sections of the Practice Book relating to disciplinary nonsuits, as opposed to evidentiary nonsuits, were renumbered in 1978, but retained the sanction and nomenclature of "nonsuit." See Practice Book, 1963, § 280 (now § 351); Practice Book, 1963, § 42 (now § 352). Thus, the changes in 1978 indicate that disciplinary nonsuits and what were formerly evidentiary nonsuits, that is those entered for failure to make out a prima facie case, were treated differently. ⁸

Although a judgment as in case of nonsuit for failure to make out a prima facie case was established by Connecticut's judiciary as a rule of practice in 1963, the rule, in substance, was actually adopted from General Statutes § 52-210, ⁹ which has been in existence since 1852. ¹⁰ See Public Acts 1851-1859, c. IV, § 1. Prior to 1852, "[t]he involuntary nonsuit for insufficiency of evidence, was unknown to the common law practice of this State." Cook v. Morris, 66 Conn. 196, 210, 33 A. 994 (1895). The language of § 52-210 and § 278 was identical until the judiciary supplanted § 278 with § 302 in 1978. The language of § 302 has remained the same since that date.

The language of § 302 differs from that of § 278 in two respects. First, pursuant to § 302, a "defendant may offer evidence in the event the motion is not granted, without having reserved the right to do so and to the same extent as if the motion had not been made." Section 278, however, contained no...