Lacey v. Williams
Lacey v. Williams
Opinion of the Court
The defendants have appealed from a judgment confirming an arbitration award. The defend
On March 12, 1984, the parties, all of New Canaan, entered into a contract under the terms of which the defendants agreed to construct a house in New Canaan for the plaintiff and the plaintiff agreed to pay the defendants $262,700. The contract provided that “[a]ny controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this contract, or the breach thereof, together with the legal and other costs thereof, shall be settled by arbitration in accordance with the rules of the American Arbitration Association . . . .” A rider to the contract provided that “[a]ll claims or disputes arising out of this Contract or the breach thereof shall be decided by arbitration in accordance with the Construction Industry Arbitration Rules of the American Arbitration Association then pertaining, unless the parties mutually agree otherwise.”
A dispute arose and on May 22, 1987, the plaintiff submitted a demand for arbitration. The nature of the dispute was given as follows: “Presence of serious, substantial and persistent structural defects in claimant’s home which was constructed by Contempra Homes; Contempra Homes failure to repair and correct said
On August 4, 1987, the defendants filed an application to vacate the award in the Superior Court in the judicial district of Fairfield at Bridgeport. On August 12, 1987, before he had received notice of the defendants’ application, the plaintiff applied to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Stamford-Norwalk at Stamford to confirm the award. The defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiff’s application because of their prior pending application or, in the alternative, to transfer the plaintiff’s application to the Superior Court at Bridgeport. The plaintiff objected because an earlier hearing date had been assigned in Stamford and because the proper venue under General Statutes § 52-418 (a)
The defendants claim that the court erred in failing to dismiss the plaintiff’s application because of the pendency of the defendants’ application to vacate or, in the alternative, in failing to transfer the plaintiffs application to the Superior Court at Bridgeport. We agree with the plaintiff that under General Statutes § 52-418 (a) the proper venue for an application concerning arbitration is the Superior Court in the judicial district in which one of the parties resides. The parties to the arbitration resided in New Canaan which is in the judicial district of Stamford-Norwalk.
The first three of the defendants’ claims of error attack the judgment confirming the award on the ground that the award includes claims made under CUTPA. We note initially that the defendants did not object to arbitration and they participated in the proceedings. They did not seek an immediate judicial determination of arbitrability pursuant to General Statutes § 52-415.
The submission to arbitration was unrestricted and encompassed all claims or disputes arising out of the
The defendants did not introduce the record of the arbitration proceedings in the trial court and failed to prove that a CUTPA claim was considered. See Schwarzschild v. Martin, supra, 326. “The burden rests upon the appellant to show that there was error in the judgment from which the appeal is taken, and that includes the preparation of a proper record.” Id.
We will not address the defendants’ arguments that only a court may hear the CUTPA claim and that it was a violation of public policy for an arbitrator to hear such a claim. There is simply nothing in the record to demonstrate that any CUTPA claim was heard, or that an award was made on such a claim. We will not decide such a question in the abstract. It is the duty of the appellant to present a record that is adequate for review of the questions he desires to raise. Practice Book § 4061; Crest Plumbing & Heating Co. v. DiLoreto, 12 Conn. App. 468, 479, 531 A.2d 177 (1987).
There is no error.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
General Statutes § 52-418 provides: “vacating award, (a) Upon the application of any party to an arbitration, the superior court for the judicial district in which one of the parties resides or, in a controversy concerning land, for the judicial district in which the land is situated or, when the court is not in session, any judge thereof, shall make an order vacating the award if it finds any of the following defects: (1) If the award has been procured by corruption, fraud or undue means; (2) if there has been evident partiality or corruption on the part of any arbitrator; (3) if the arbitrators have been guilty of misconduct in refusing to postpone the hearing upon sufficient cause shown or in refusing to hear evidence pertinent and material to the controversy or of any other action by which the rights of any party have been prejudiced; or (4) if the arbitrators have exceeded their powers or so imperfectly executed them that a mutual, final and definite award upon the subject matter submitted was not made.
“(b) If an award is vacated and the time within which the award is required to be rendered has not expired, the court or judge may direct a rehearing by the arbitrators.”
The defendants also failed to move for modification or correction of the award pursuant to General Statutes § 52-419.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.