Kraus v. Klee
Kraus v. Klee
Opinion of the Court
This action was instituted in fifty-eight counts brought by fifty-eight taxpayers and/or citizens of the town of Eastford, each claiming a penalty fee of $50 against the majority members of the board of assessors of the town under § 12-170 of the General Statutes.
The stipulation filed November 15, 1966, consists only of four paragraphs, and paragraph four provides that “the memorandum of decision dated 12-20-65, the complaint, and the judgment in Supe
From the aforesaid exhibits, as presented, the following facts appear: On or about February 23, 1965, the defendants Emil Klee and George Chilkott constituted the majority members of the board of assessors of the town of Eastford. In preparing the 1964 grand list for the town, they used varying percentages of assessment. The third member of the board of assessors refused to go along with this procedure and made known his objections to the majority members of the board. No evidence of fraud or criminal intent is found in connection with the operations of the majority members of the board. On June 23, 1965, in a memorandum on a motion for a temporary order of mandamus in John B. Sullivan, State’s Attorney v. Joseph S. King, Superior Court, Windham County, No. 13118, the court (Barber, J.) found that a method using varying percentages of assessment for the 1964 grand list was used and that the method did not comply with the mandate of §§ 12-64 and 12-71 of the General Statutes and “was improper and must be discredited.” Notwithstanding this memorandum, the April budget meeting of the town of Eastford adopted a tax rate based upon the erroneous grand list with varying percentages, and subsequent thereto the first half of the town taxes were collected by the collector of the town. Thereafter, another action was instituted in the Superior Court seeking, on behalf of many taxpayers, (1) a declaratory judgment that the assessment list of 1964 is unlawful, and (2) an injunction against the town from collecting the second payment of taxes, due and payable January 1, 1965. Kraus v. Eastford, Supe
The plaintiffs in the case at bar have alleged in the several counts of their complaint that they are aggrieved by the action of the assessors, and this was denied in the defendants’ answer. The plaintiffs apparently believed that the history of the litigation set forth above was all that they were required to prove to qualify as aggrieved persons. The plaintiffs’ motion to correct the finding by adding a paragraph “that [the assessors] in violating Section 12-64 and Section 12-71 of the General Statutes caused the plaintiffs pecuniary loss,” and by adding to the finding certain other conclusions, was properly denied.
The defendants assigned error in the refusal of the court to strike from the finding a transcript of
The trial court adopted as its finding for the appeal the stipulation which had been filed by the parties in lieu of the presentation of evidence, and subsequently, on motion of the plaintiffs to correct the finding, added a transcript of the evidence in the Superior Court case of Sullivan v. King, supra. Since the finding does not contain the conclusions of the court (Practice Book § 980 and Form No. 817), the memorandum of decision has been consulted for a better understanding of the decision. See Maltbie, Conn. App. Proc. § 152, p. 187.
A reviewing court cannot resort to the contents of exhibits which were not part of the record. American Can Co. v. Orange Pulp Co., 149 Conn. 417, 418; see Bridgeport v. Bridgeport Hydraulic Co., 81 Conn. 84, 89. The question involved having been presented on a stipulation of facts, the stipulation of facts being the finding in the case, the transcript of evidence which the plaintiffs sought to incorporate into the finding should have been excluded. We cannot retry the case.
We are therefore asked to determine what is meant by the word “aggrieved” as used in this penal statute, and how and to what extent the plaintiffs must show they were aggrieved by the action of the majority members of the board of assessors. Bailentine, Law Dictionary (2d Ed.), defines “aggrieved” as follows: “The condition of one whose legal right has been invaded by the act complained of. A party aggrieved is one whose pecuniary interest is directly affected by the [act]; . . . [subjected to loss or injury.” The trial court in its memorandum stated in effect that the mere fact
The Supreme Court has stated in Langbein v. Planning Board, 145 Conn. 674, 676, that “one must be specially and injuriously affected in his property or other legal rights, unless the case involves some aspect of traffic in liquor.” In London v. Planning & Zoning Commission, 149 Conn. 282, 284, the court stated that the plaintiffs had the burden of proving that they were aggrieved. Again in Whitney Theatre Co. v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 150 Conn. 285, 287, the burden of proof required the plaintiff to establish that it was specially and injuriously affected in its property rights or other legal rights. In Hickey v. New London, 153 Conn. 35, 37, the Supreme Court stated that it was necessary for the plaintiffs to show that they were aggrieved, in the sense that they had a special, personal and legal interest as distinguished from a general interest such as is the concern of all members of the community, and that they were specially and injuriously affected in their property or other legal rights. And most recently, in Johnson v. Zoning Board of Appeals, the Supreme Court reaffirmed the definition of aggrievement and reiterated: “It [an aggrievement] is a question of fact for the court to determine.” 156 Conn. 622, 623.
Applying the definition as cited above to the case at bar, we conclude that none of the plaintiffs herein
There is no error.
In this opinion Wise and Macdonald, Js., concurred.
“Sec. 12-170. penalty fob official misconduct. Each assessor, member of the board of tax review, selectman, committee or collector, who does any unlawful act or omits to do any necessary act connected with the levy, assessment or collection of any tax, shall forfeit fifty dollars to the person aggrieved thereby, to be collected by such person in an action on this statute; and each collector who charges or receives any illegal fees shall, in addition to said sum of fifty dollars, also forfeit double the amount of such illegal fees to the person aggrieved, to be collected as aforesaid.”
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.