Johnson v. Sourignamath
Johnson v. Sourignamath
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
This case involves a right-of-way claimed to exist by the plaintiffs, Darryl Johnson, Denise Myers, Darlene Graves, Lori Johnson Jerome and the estate of Walter Rochette (Joan Rochette and Dawn O’Dell, trustees) over the lands of the defendants, Thanongchit Sourignamath, Bounthavy Sourignamath, D. Scott Ward and Kathleen A. Ward. The plaintiffs claimed that they had a right-of-way to Bokum Road in Old Saybrook either by deed or by prescription benefiting their approximately ten acre parcel of land. The defendants appeal from the judgment of the trial court finding that a deeded right-of-way exists in favor of the land of the plaintiffs over that of the defendants. The plaintiffs cross appeal, claiming that the trial court should not have dismissed their prescriptive easement claim prior to the resolution of the defendant’s appeal.
One of the issues raised by the defendants is whether any deeded right-of-way that the plaintiffs may have received from the title instruments in their chain over the defendants’ lands would have been extinguished by the Marketable Title Act. General Statutes §§ 47-33b through 47-331. Both parties raise arguments as to the significance of the act as it applies to their respective chains of title. The provisions of the act may be controlling, but we do not have a sufficient factual record to apply the act to this case, particularly as to the application of General Statutes §§ 47-33c and 47-33d, which provide, respectively, for marketable title where at least a forty year unbroken chain of title exists in land and the interests to which that marketable title may be subject.
Our Supreme Court has observed that “[i]n the interests of justice, we have the power to remand a case for further proceedings even in the absence of reversible error by the trial court. See, e.g., Montanaro Bros. Builders, Inc. v. Snow, 190 Conn. 481, 490-91, 460 A.2d 1297 (1983); Holland v. Holland, [supra, 188 Conn. 364]; State v. Gonzales, 186 Conn. 426, 436, 441 A.2d 852 (1982).” In re Final Grand Jury Report Concerning
The plaintiffs’ cross appeal relates to the trial court’s dismissal of count two of their complaint, alleging a prescriptive easement, on the basis of the court’s decision that the plaintiffs had proven the existence of a deeded easement in accordance with count one. The plaintiffs argue that the dismissal was premature in light of the defendants’ pending appeal as to count one. The defendants, in their reply to the cross appeal, agree that the trial court would be required to conduct further proceedings as to count two if the defendants’ appeal results in a reversal of count one. Because there was no motion to dismiss made by any of the parties, nor any claim by any of them that the court lacked either jurisdiction or authority to hear the plaintiffs’ claim as to prescriptive easement, we agree with the positions taken by the plaintiffs and defendants that the outright dismissal of count two was premature and not prudential. We conclude that the dismissal of count two must be reversed in light of our remand to the trial court for the receipt of additional evidence. Should the court after taking that evidence decide that its judgment as to count one should stand, however, the court should reserve decision as to count two pending the final resolution of the defendants’ appeal. Should the court after taking that evidence determine that the plaintiffs have not proved their right of access by deed, then the court should determine the plaintiffs’ claim as to prescriptive easement.
The trial court’s judgment is reversed as to the dismissal of count two, and the case is remanded with direction to order the submission of the deeds, maps or other pertinent records evidencing the plaintiffs’
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
When the plaintiffs asked their expert witness to testify as to the name Rochette appearing in the deeds in their chain of title, the defendant objected as follows: “[Ojbjection, this is hearsay. I don’t mind the deeds being introduced. But to have him testify to what the deeds say is hearsay.” The court overruled the objection and the deeds were never entered into evidence. Although experts may rely on hearsay in reaching their opinions; see George v. Ericson, 250 Conn. 312, 321, 736 A.2d 889 (1999); in this instance the expert was not conveying an opinion, but rather was being asked to recite the very language contained in the documents.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- DARRYL JOHNSON v. THANONGCHIT SOURIGNAMATH
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published