In re Probate Appeal of Red Knot Acquisitions, LLC

147 Conn.App. 39

80 A.3d 594

In re PROBATE APPEAL OF RED KNOT ACQUISITIONS, LLC, et al.^*

No. 34900.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Argued Sept. 23, 2013.

Decided Dec. 10, 2013.

Brian P. Daniels, New Haven, for the appellants (plaintiffs).

C. Donald Neville, West Hartford, for the appellee (defendant Cadle Company).

DiPENTIMA, C.J., and KELLER and MIHALAKOS, Js.

MIHALAKOS, J.

The plaintiffs, Red Knot Acquisitions, LLC, and Greg Garvey, appeal from the judgment of the trial court dismissing the plaintiffs' appeal from the order of the Probate Court granting the plaintiffs' motion to quash subpoenas. On appeal, the plaintiffs claim that the trial court erred in finding that no practical relief was available to the plaintiffs because the Probate Court had granted the motion to quash subpoenas on a limited basis, which amounts to aggrievement. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

The defendant, the Cadle Company, is an unsecured creditor of the estate of F. Francis D'Addario (estate). In 2010, the defendant obtained a judgment against the estate for three million dollars. On July 15, 2011, the defendant served subpoenas upon the plaintiffs, also creditors of the estate, seeking the production of documents and deposition testimony concerning the assets of the estate. Shortly thereafter, the plaintiffs filed motions to quash the subpoenas with the Probate Court. The plaintiffs argued, among other things, that (1) discovery was barred by the doctrines of collateral estoppel and res judicata, and (2) the requested information could be obtained from the executors of the estate. On December 8, 2011, the Probate Court granted the plaintiffs' motion to quash, agreeing that the requested information could be obtained from the executors.

The plaintiffs then appealed to the trial court from the Probate Court's order granting the motion to quash, seeking to have the subpoenas quashed permanently and unconditionally under the doctrines of collateral estoppel and res judicata. The defendant moved to dismiss the appeal for lack of standing. The trial court granted the motion to dismiss because the plaintiffs lacked standing, as the Probate Court had granted their motion to quash.¹ This appeal followed.

The plaintiffs claim that they had standing before the trial court because the Probate Court did not grant their motion to quash in full, such that they were aggrieved by the partial denial as it adversely affected their interest in avoiding further unwarranted discovery and their interest in the estate. ² We disagree and affirm the judgment of the trial court.

“In order to prosecute an appeal from a Probate Court, it is necessary that the plaintiff be aggrieved within the meaning of [General Statutes] § 45–288 [now General Statutes § 45a–186]. Aggrievement as a concept of standing is a practical and functional one designed to assure that only those with a genuine and legitimate interest can appeal an order of the Probate Court. [T]he frequent statement that a plaintiff, to be aggrieved, must have a pecuniary interest ... is too narrow to deal with the various types of cases presented by appeals from probate.... In determining whether an appellant has a grievance ... the question is whether there is a possibility, as distinguished from a certainty, that some legally protected interest which he has in the estate has been adversely affected.... The issue of whether [a party] was aggrieved under § 45–288 [§ 45a186] by the actions of the Probate Court is to be distinguished from the question of whether, on a review of the merits, it will prevail.” (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Erisoty's Appeal from Probate, 216 Conn. 514, 519–20, 582 A.2d 760 (1990). The question of whether an order from probate aggrieves a party concerns a trial court's subject matter jurisdiction, and therefore our review is plenary. See Buchholz's Appeal from Probate, 9 Conn.App. 413, 416, 519 A.2d 615 (1987).

“As a general rule, a party that prevails in the [lower] court is not aggrieved.... Moreover, [a] party cannot be aggrieved by a decision that grants the very relief sought.... Such a party cannot establish that a specific personal and legal interest has been specially and injuriously affected by the decision.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) In re Allison G., 276 Conn. 146, 158, 883 A.2d 1226 (2005). “One who has received in the [lower] court all the relief that he or she has sought therein is not aggrieved by the judgment and has no standing to appeal. In particular, a litigant has no right to appeal a judgment in his favor merely for the purposeof having the judgment based on a different legal ground than that relied upon by the [lower] court....” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., quoting 5 Am.Jur.2d 47, Appellate Review § 276 (1995).

In the present case, the plaintiffs presented to the Probate Court various legal grounds on which to grant their motion to quash, including the ground on which the Probate Court ultimately relied. The plaintiffs requested only one form of relief, that the subpoenas be quashed, which the Probate Court provided. The Probate Court granted the motion to quash on the ground that the information sought could be obtained from the...