Meribear Prods., Inc. v. Frank

328 Conn. 709

183 A.3d 1164

MERIBEAR PRODUCTIONS, INC.

v.Joan E. FRANK et al.

SC 19721

Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Argued November 13, 2017

Officially released May 15, 2018

Michael S. Taylor, with whom were James P. Sexton, Hartford, and, on the brief, Matthew C. Eagan, for the appellants (defendants).

Anthony J. LaBella, with whom, on the brief, was Deborah M. Garskof, Fairfield, for the appellee (plaintiff).

Palmer, McDonald, D'Auria, Mullins and Kahn, Js.^*

McDONALD, J.

A threshold jurisdictional issue in this case requires us to clarify the circumstances under which there can be an appealable final judgment when the trial court's decision does not dispose of counts advancing alternative theories of relief. The plaintiff, Meribear Productions, Inc., brought an action against the defendants, Joan E. Frank and George A. Frank, for common-law enforcement of a foreign default judgment, breach of contract and quantum meruit. Judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff against each of the defendants under different counts of the complaint. The Appellate Court affirmed the judgment on the merits, and this court thereafter granted the defendants' petition for certification to appeal from that judgment. Upon further review, it is apparent that the judgment was not final as to George Frank, and, therefore, the Appellate Court lacked jurisdiction over the defendants' joint appeal.

The following facts were found by the trial court or are otherwise reflected in the record. The defendants, who are husband and wife, decided to sell their Westport home. They hired the plaintiff, a home staging services provider, to provide design and decorating services, which included the staging of home furnishings owned by the plaintiff, to make the residence more attractive to potential buyers. The plaintiff is a California corporation with its principal place of business located in Los Angeles. The staging agreement was signed only by Joan Frank, the owner of the property. George Frank signed an addendum to the agreement, which authorized the plaintiff to charge his credit card for the initial staging fee, which included the first four months of rental charges, and indicated his personal guarantee to the plaintiff, but he crossed out the phrase "any obligations that may become due."

More than four months after the furnishings were delivered and staged in the defendants' home, the defendants defaulted on their payment obligations and failed to cooperate with the plaintiff's attempts to repossess the furnishings. The plaintiff filed an action against the defendants in a California Superior Court. The defendants did not appear or defend. The California court entered a default judgment against the defendants in the amount of $259,746.10, which included prejudgment interest and attorney's fees.¹

Approximately one month later, the plaintiff commenced the present action in Connecticut seeking to hold the defendants jointly and severally liable under the foreign default judgment and to recover additional attorney's fees, costs, and postjudgment interest. In response to the defendants' assertion of a special defense that the judgment was void because the California court lacked personal jurisdiction over them, the plaintiff amended the complaint to add two counts seeking recovery against both defendants under theories of breach of contract and quantum meruit. Prior to trial, a prejudgment attachment in the amount of $259,764.10, together with 10 percent postjudgment interest, pursuant to provisions of the California Code of Civil Procedure, was entered against the Westport real property owned by Joan Frank.

In a trial to the court, the plaintiff litigated all three claims. In its posttrial brief, the plaintiff requested that the court give full faith and credit to the California judgment, plus postjudgment interest; "[i]n the alternative," find that the defendants had breached the contract and award damages in the same amount awarded in the California judgment, plus interest, fees and costs; and, "[f]inally, in the event [that] neither request is ... granted," render judgment in the plaintiff's favor on the quantum meruit count in the same amount.

The court issued a memorandum of decision finding in favor of the plaintiff on count one against George Frank and on count two against Joan Frank. The court acknowledged at the outset that the three count complaint was for "common-law enforcement of a foreign default judgment, and alternatively, for breach of contract and quantum meruit." Turning first to count one, the trial court determined that, as a result of the manner in which process was served, the California court lacked personal jurisdiction over Joan Frank but had jurisdiction over George Frank. In rejecting George Frank's argument that the exercise of jurisdiction did not comply with the dictates of due process, the court cited his admission "that he signed a guarantee of the staging agreement ... that provides that Los Angeles is the appropriate forum." Consequently, the court stated that it would render judgment on count one for Joan Frank and against George Frank.

In resolving the remaining counts, the court made no further reference to George Frank. As to count two, the court concluded that Joan Frank had breached the contract, that she could not prevail on her special defenses to enforcement of the contract, and that judgment would be rendered for the plaintiff and against Joan Frank. As to count three, the court cited case law explaining that parties routinely plead alternative counts of breach of contract and quantum meruit, but that they are only entitled to a single measure of damages. The court concluded: "The plaintiff has proven that Joan Frank breached the contract. Therefore, the court need not consider the alternative claim for quantum meruit."

The court awarded damages against George Frank on count one and against Joan Frank on count two. Although both awards covered inventory loss and lost rents, the California judgment included prejudgment interest and attorney's fees, whereas the breach of contract award included late fees related to the rental loss. The judgment file provided: "The court, having heard the parties, finds the issues for the plaintiff. Whereupon it is adjudged that the plaintiff recover of the defendant Joan E. Frank $283,106.45 damages and that the plaintiff recover of the defendant George A. Frank $259,746.10." The court indicated that a hearing would be scheduled on attorney's fees, but did not address the subject of postjudgment interest.

The defendants jointly appealed from the judgment to the Appellate Court, claiming that (1) the California judgment was unenforceable against George Frank because he did not have sufficient minimum contacts with California for its court to exercise personal jurisdiction over him, (2) the staging services agreement was not enforceable because it failed to comply with certain provisions of the Home Solicitation Sales Act, General Statutes § 42–134a et seq., and (3) the damage award was improper because (a) the judgment against George Frank under the first count and against Joan Frank under the second count constituted double recovery for the same loss, and (b) the award under the second count improperly included damages for conversion of the home furnishings. See Meribear Productions, Inc. v. Frank , 165 Conn. App. 305, 311, 316, 321–22, 140 A.3d 993 (2016). The Appellate Court affirmed the trial court's judgment, rejecting the defendants' claims on the merits. Id., 307, 140 A.3d 993. With respect to the double damages issue, the Appellate Court noted that "the plaintiff may recover the full amount awarded by the trial court based on count one or count two of its complaint. It may, however, recover only once for the harm that it suffered." Id., 322, 140 A.3d 993.

The defendants' certified appeal to this court followed.² During the course of oral argument, the defendants conceded that the plaintiff was entitled to some recovery under quantum meruit and asserted that, although that count had not been addressed in any manner by the trial court as to George Frank, the plaintiff could obtain a ruling on that count on remand should the defendants succeed on their appeal. In response, this court questioned whether George Frank's appeal had been taken from a final judgment when the trial court's ruling had not disposed of all counts against him. Because this issue had not been addressed in the parties' briefs, we ordered supplemental briefs on that issue. In those briefs, the parties agreed that there was a final judgment. They contended that the failure to rule on an alternative claim for relief does not affect the finality of the judgment.³ Although there is Appellate Court authority to support the parties' position, we conclude that one line of this case law, applicable to the present case, is inconsistent with our final judgment law. We conclude that the trial court's failure to dispose of either the contract count or the quantum merit count as to George Frank resulted in the lack of a final judgment. Accordingly, the Appellate Court should have dismissed the defendants' joint appeal.⁴ See In re Santiago G. , 325 Conn. 221, 229, 157 A.3d 60 (2017) ("the lack of a final judgment is a jurisdictional defect that [necessitates] ... dismissal of the appeal" [internal quotation marks omitted] ).

"When judgment has been rendered on an entire complaint ... such judgment shall constitute a final judgment." Practice Book § 61–2. As a general rule, however, a judgment that disposes of only a part of a complaint is not final, unless it disposes of all of the causes of action against the appellant. Manifold v. Ragaglia , 272 Conn. 410, 417–18 n.8, 862 A.2d 292 (2004) ; Cheryl Terry Enterprises, Ltd. v. Hartford , 262 Conn. 240, 246, 811 A.2d 1272 (2002) ; see also Practice Book § 61–3 (party may appeal if partial judgment disposes "of all causes of action ... against a particular party or pa...