First Merchants Group Ltd. Partnership v. Fordham
First Merchants Group Ltd. Partnership v. Fordham
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
The plaintiff, First Merchants Group Limited Partnership, appeals from the decision of the trial court remanding the case to an arbitrator for further findings after denying summary judgment in a declaratory judgment action in which the primary issue was whether the arbitration had ended. The plaintiff claims that once the court denied summary judgment on whether the arbitration had ended, it lacked authority to send any issues back to the arbitrator without first hearing evidence and deciding the merits of the declaratory judgment action. We agree and reverse the judgment of the trial court.
This is the second time this case is before us on appeal. We first adjudicated similar issues in First Merchants Group Ltd. Partnership v. Fordham, 121 Conn. App. 135, 994 A.2d 289 (2010). Our decision in that appeal laid out the relevant facts and procedural history. In that case, we reversed the trial court’s dismissal, on the basis of the lack of subject matter jurisdiction, of the plaintiffs declaratory judgment action. The complaint alleged that the plaintiff, First Merchants Group Limited Partnership, and the defendant, Harriet Ford-ham, were the sole members of a limited liability company. The parties’ amended operating agreement, dated January 25, 2002, provided that any disputes between
After the arbitrator’s February 23, 2007 decision, the defendant continued to serve the arbitrator with additional pleadings, seeking relief related to that decision and for issues that arose after the decision was issued. Almost one year after she had issued her decision, by correspondence dated February 19, 2008, the arbitrator suggested that her February 23, 2007 decision was not a final award.
We reversed the judgment of the court after concluding that it improperly granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss without an evidentiary hearing when material issues of fact were in dispute. First Merchants Group Ltd. Partnership v. Fordham, supra, 121 Conn. App. 139-40. We expressly held that the court had jurisdiction over a declaratory action to determine whether the arbitrator’s February 23, 2007 decision was an interim decision or a final award. Id., 142. We remanded the case back to the court for further proceedings according to law. Id., 144.
On remand, the defendant filed an answer to the original complaint and a counterclaim, in which she sought a declaratory ruling that the arbitrator’s decision
“The denial of a motion for summary judgment ordinarily is an interlocutory ruling and, accordingly, not a final judgment for purposes of appeal. . . . We previously have determined [however] that certain interlocutory orders have the attributes of a final judgment and consequently are appealable under [General Statutes] § 52-263. . . . In State v. Curcio, [191 Conn. 27, 31, 463 A.2d 566 (1983)], we explicated two situations in which a party can appeal an otherwise interlocutory order: (1) where the order or action terminates a separate and distinct proceeding, or (2) where the order or action so concludes the rights of the parties that further proceedings cannot affect them.” (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Chadha v. Charlotte Hungerford Hospital, 272 Conn. 776, 785, 865 A.2d 1163 (2005). “The second test for finality, where the order on appeal so concludes the rights of the parties that further proceedings cannot affect them, focuses not on
Here, the effect of the remand to the arbitrator is to deny to the plaintiff the right that it seeks to have adjudicated in the declaratory judgment action: the right to foreclose any further proceedings before the arbitrator.
“The court’s consideration of a motion for summary judgment is limited to the evaluation as a matter of law of the documentary proof submitted . . . .” Paine Webber Jackson & Curtis, Inc. v. Winters, 13 Conn. App. 712, 721-22, 539 A.2d 595, cert. denied, 208 Conn. 803, 545 A.2d 1101 (1988). “The function of the trial court in ruling on a motion for summary judgment is to determine whether there is a genuine issue as to any material fact, but not to decide that issue if it does exist until the parties are afforded a full hearing.” Town Bank & Trust Co. v. Benson, 176 Conn. 304, 306, 407 A.2d 971 (1978).
Section 52-29 (a) provides: “The Superior Court in any action or proceeding may declare rights and other legal relations on request for such a declaration, whether or not further relief is or could be claimed. The declaration shall have the force of a final judgment.”
Having determined in the previous appeal that the court had jurisdiction over whether the arbitrator’s decision was final, we need only decide whether the court had the authority, once it had denied summary judgment, to remand the case to the arbitrator before holding an evidentiary hearing. We conclude that it did not.
As we stated in our prior opinion, “[t]he court, in concluding that the arbitration decision was not final, addressed the very issue that the plaintiff sought to have adjudicated by way of a declaratory ruling.” First
No authority cited by the defendant supports its proposition that a court may remand a case to an arbitrator or any other entity after finding material issues of fact that preclude summary judgment. The dispute before the court remains whether the award is final and, therefore, whether the arbitrator still has jurisdiction. It is on that question that the court determined that disputed issues of material fact remain, and on that question that the court must hear evidence before deciding whether to remand the case to the arbitrator.
The “ ‘[memorandum of [understanding as to [arbitration’ ” was signed by the plaintiff and the defendant, but not the arbitrator. First Merchants Group Ltd. Partnership v. Fordham, supra, 121 Conn. App. 137 n.1.
The arbitrator’s letter was signed by the arbitrator and by counsel for the plaintiff and the defendant.
General Statutes §§ 52-417 through 52-420 allow any party to an arbitration to apply to the Superior Court to confirm, vacate or modify a final award of an arbitrator.
The court also found that the amount of attorney’s fees due to the prevailing party also remained a disputed issue of fact.
We note that neither party seeks to overturn the denial of summary judgment; the plaintiff on appeal challenges only the remand to the arbitrator.
We do not decide that issue; that is precisely the purpose of a hearing before the trial court.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.