Midland Funding, LLC v. Mitchell-James

163 Conn.App. 648

137 A.3d 1

MIDLAND FUNDING, LLC

v.Antell MITCHELL–JAMES.

No. 37697.

Appellate Court of Connecticut.

Submitted on Briefs Oct. 9, 2015.

March 15, 2016.

Antell Mitchell–James, self-represented, the appellant (defendant), filed a brief.

Jeanine M. Dumont, East Hartford, filed a brief for the appellee (plaintiff).

DiPENTIMA, C.J., and BEACH and SHELDON, Js.

DiPENTIMA, C.J.

The self-represented defendant, Antell Mitchell–James, appeals from the summary judgment rendered in favor of the plaintiff, Midland Funding, LLC. On appeal, the defendant claims that the trial court improperly concluded that there was no genuine issue of material fact regarding the plaintiff's ownership of the debt that is the subject of the complaint.¹ We agree and, accordingly, reverse the judgment of the trial court.

The record reveals the following relevant facts and procedural history. On December 10, 2013, the plaintiff commenced this action, alleging in a two count complaint that the defendant (1) defaulted on her credit card account and became indebted to Chase Bank USA, N.A. (Chase), in the sum of $24,086.46, and (2) was liable for the account stated. The plaintiff also alleged that it had “purchased title to this debt on [June 30, 2011] for valuable consideration and as such is the bona fide owner of the debt.” The defendant responded by filing a motion to dismiss, which was denied, followed by a motion to strike both counts, which also was denied.

In March, 2014, the plaintiff served the defendant with requests for admission. The defendant responded to the plaintiff's requests for admission in June, 2014, admitting, in relevant part, to using and making payments on an unspecified Chase credit card account. She did not, however, admit to any information specific to the account in question. Ultimately, on August 4, 2014, the defendant answered the complaint, alleging that she was “without knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief as to the truth of the allegations....”

On December 1, 2014, the plaintiff filed a motion for summary judgment as to liability and damages. The plaintiff appended to the motion the sworn affidavit of a “legal specialist,” Tamra Stayton, who was employed by another business, Midland Credit Management, Inc., that purportedly was the “servicer of [the defendant's] account on behalf of [the plaintiff].” Stayton averred that the defendant had defaulted on the subject credit card account and that the plaintiff was the current owner of the debt, entitling it to collect the $24,086.46 owed on the account. Accompanying Stayton's affidavit were eighteen copies of monthly credit card statements of the subject account for the period of April, 2008 through October, 2009, a “field data sheet” with information relating to the defendant's alleged debt, e.g., her name and amount owed, and a bill of sale that documented the alleged sale of unpaid credit card accounts from Chase to the plaintiff.

The defendant filed an opposition to the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, arguing that genuine issues of material fact existed. The defendant claimed, inter alia, that the affidavit supporting the plaintiff's motion contained hearsay that did not fall within the business records exception to the rule against hearsay pursuant to General Statutes § 52–180. The defendant also argued that the plaintiff, without “establish[ing] that it [was] the bona fide owner of the account in question,” could not “step into the shoes of the original creditor, Chase....” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Of note, appended to the defendant's memorandum of law was a letter that purportedly was sent to her by Midland Credit Management, Inc., notifying her that the plaintiff had purchased her Chase account and that she owed $24,112.85 to the plaintiff.

The plaintiff replied with a supplemental memorandum of law in support of its motion for summary judgment. Although largely repetitive of its original memorandum of law, the plaintiff addressed the defendant's claim that the affidavit contained inadmissible hearsay. Citing to case law and our rules of practice, the plaintiff argued that the submitted affidavit fell within the ambit of the business records exception to the hearsay rule. With the supplemental memorandum of law, the plaintiff also submitted an affidavit from Martin Lavergne, an officer of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., who averred that he was authorized by Chase to submit the affidavit. Lavergne further averred that Chase sold a “pool of charged-off accounts” to the plaintiff, and, as part of the sale, “electronic records and other records on individual accounts included in the [pool of charged-off accounts] were transferred to [the plaintiff].” Lavergne affirmed that he was “aware of the process of the sale and assignment of electronically stored business records,” and averred, without elaborating as to the basis for his averment, that he was “not aware of any errors in the [pool of charged-off accounts].”

After a hearing on January 26, 2015, the court granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment, finding “a proper account stated of $24,086.46.” This appeal followed.

On appeal, the defendant claims that the court improperly granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment. Specifically, the defendant argues that Stay-ton's affidavit failed to provide the “evidentiary foundation for the documents submitted [by the plaintiff] as business records.” Consequently, the defendant argues, the plaintiff “never established that it was the successor in interest to the account in question;”² thus, the court erred in rendering summary judgment because a genuine issue of material fact existed as to whether the plaintiff owned the defendant's charged-off account. We agree.

As a preliminary matter, we set forth the standard of review. The parties agree that plenary review is the appropriate standard. Generally, “[o]ur review of the trial court's decision to grant the ... motion for summary judgment is plenary.... On appeal, we must determine whether the legal conclusions reached by the trial court are legally and logically correct....” (Internal quotation marks omitted.)

American Express Centurion Bank v. Head, 115 Conn.App. 10, 15, 971 A.2d 90 (2009). When presented with an evidentiary issue, as in this case, our standard of review “depends on the specific nature of the claim presented.”

State v. Smith, 289 Conn. 598, 617, 960 A.2d 993 (2008). Thus, “[t]o the extent a trial court's admission of evidence is based on an interpretation of [law], our standard of review is plenary. For example, whether a challenged statement properly may be classified as hearsay and whether a hearsay exception properly is identified are legal questions demanding plenary review.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id.

A trial court's decision to admit evidence, if premised on a correct view of the law, however, calls for the abuse of discretion standard of review. Id.; see also Nash v. Stevens, 144 Conn.App. 1, 15–16, 71 A.3d 635 (applying abuse of discretion standard in reviewing evidentiary issue in appeal from grant of summary judgment), cert. denied, 310 Conn. 915, 76 A.3d 628 (2013) ; Bruno v. Geller, 136 Conn.App. 707, 716, 46 A.3d 974 (same), cert. denied, 306 Conn. 905, 52 A.3d 732 (2012). “In other words, only after a trial court has made the legal determination that a particular statement is or is not hearsay, or is subject to a hearsay exception, is it vested with the discretion to admit or to bar the evidence based upon relevancy, prejudice, or other legally appropriate grounds related to the rule of evidence under which admission is being sought.... A paradigmatic example of this distinction would be a trial court's conclusion that a hearsay statement bears the requisite indicia of trustworthiness and reliability necessary for admission under the residual exception to the hearsay rule, which would be reviewed for an abuse of discretion.... By contrast, the question of whether the trial court properly could have admitted that statement under the residual exception if the admission of that type of statement expressly was barred under another hearsay exception would present a question of law over which the appellate courts exercise plenary review.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Smith, supra, 289 Conn. at 617–18, 960 A.2d 993.

Unfortunately, here, we have no memorandum of decision from the court to help us determine the precise basis of the court's decision to grant the motion for summary judgment. Nevertheless, we may infer that for the court to have rendered summary judgment, it must have concluded that the hearsay contained in the plaintiff's affidavit supporting its motion fell within the business records exception to the rule against hearsay. Therefore, whether the court applied the correct legal test to admit computer generated business records under a hearsay exception is a “legal [question] demanding plenary review.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id., at 617, 960 A.2d 993.

A party seeking summary judgment has the considerable burden of demonstrating the absence of any genuine issue of material fact because “litigants ordinarily have a constitutional right to have issues of fact decided by a [trier of fact]....” (Citation omitted.) Town Bank & Trust Co. v. Benson, 176 Conn. 304, 307, 407 A.2d 971 (1978). Thus, “[i]n seeking summary judgment, it is the movant who has the burden of showing the nonexistence of any issue of fact. The courts are in entire agreement that the moving party for summary judgment has the burden of showing the absence of any genuine issue as to all the material facts, which, under applicable principles of substantive law, entitle him to a judgment as a matter of law. The courts hold the movant to a strict standard. To satisfy his burden the movant must make a showing that it is quite clear what the truth is, and that excludes any real doubt as to the existence of any genuine issue of...