Martowska v. White
Martowska v. White
Opinion
The plaintiff, Matthew M. Martowska, appeals from the 2016 postjudgment order of the trial court that, although allowing the plaintiff to inspect a psychological evaluation performed in 2012 as part of a then pending proceeding regarding the parties' custody/visitation matter, prevented the plaintiff from obtaining a copy of the evaluation. On appeal, the plaintiff raises a number of claims regarding the court's order prohibiting the release of a copy of the 2012 evaluation. 1 We conclude that the postjudgment order at issue is not a final judgment. Accordingly, we dismiss this appeal for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
Many of the underlying facts and lengthy procedural history of this case are not relevant to the issues on appeal. Accordingly, we provide only the facts and history pertinent to our discussion, some of which are set forth in this court's decision in
Martowska
v.
White
,
Between May, 2014, and December, 2016, no motions were filed in this custody/visitation matter in the trial court. The plaintiff and his family members did, however, engage in a series of communications with judges and staff of the Superior Court. In November and December, 2014, the plaintiff sent two letters to Delinda Walden of the Hartford Superior Court, seeking confirmation of the following: the plaintiff's mother was denied a copy of the psychological evaluation, neither party may obtain a copy of the evaluation, no third parties may access the evaluation, and Walden is unable to provide a copy of the evaluation for use in a different case pending in Massachusetts. On September 11, 2015, the plaintiff again wrote to Walden inquiring whether he could obtain a copy of the psychological evaluation, and whether he could share the copy with Dr. Denise Mumley in connection with an order of a Massachusetts court. The plaintiff wrote that the psychological evaluation would "be used in a different case unrelated to [the defendant] " and further stated that the evaluation "will be shared initially with Dr. Mumley (as part of my evaluation) and thereafter with others." (Emphasis added.) Also on September 11, 2015, the plaintiff's mother sent an e-mail to Walden, inquiring whether the plaintiff would be permitted to obtain a copy of the evaluation. Walden responded in part that Judge Suarez had informed her that "we can only release the evaluation for purposes involving the case here - it is not available for any other purpose. Otherwise [the plaintiff] will need to file a motion."
On October 12, 2016, the plaintiff appeared at the Superior Court to review the 2012 psychological evaluation. According to the plaintiff, he was denied access to the evaluation. The following day, the plaintiff sent an e-mail to Kevin Diadomo of the Hartford Superior Court, in which he represented that his inquiry was "for the purpose of potentially bringing forward a motion involving the case here in CT, but I needed to review the [evaluation] before I could decide my plan of action." He requested that Diadomo share the e-mail with Judge Suarez. The plaintiff also sent letters to a number of judges of the Superior Court, including Judge Suarez.
The court, Suarez, J. , then scheduled a status conference in the matter for December 6, 2016. Following the status conference, the court issued an order providing that "[t]he plaintiff may review the psychological evaluation dated November 23, 2012, in the clerk's office. The plaintiff is reminded that the information cannot be used in any other action. He was reminded that he cannot have copies of any of the information." 2 It is from this order that the plaintiff appeals.
"Before examining the plaintiff's claims on appeal, we must first determine whether we have jurisdiction. It is axiomatic that the jurisdiction of this court is restricted to appeals from judgments that are final. General Statutes §§ 51-197a and 52-263 ; Practice Book § 61-1.... Thus, as a general matter, an interlocutory ruling may not be appealed pending the final disposition of a case." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.)
Parrotta
v.
Parrotta
,
The plaintiff appeals from a discovery order prohibiting release of a copy of the psychological evaluation. "It is well established in our case law that interlocutory rulings on motions related to discovery generally are not immediately appealable."
Cunniffe
v.
Cunniffe
,
Our Supreme Court has elaborated on the application of the final judgment doctrine in the context of discovery disputes, recognizing the fact specific nature of such disputes.
Incardona
v.
Roer
,
With these considerations in mind, we conclude that the trial court's order in the present case does not satisfy either of the exceptions set forth in
Curcio
. The first prong of
Curcio
"requires that the order being appealed from be severable from the central cause of action so that the main action can proceed independent of the ancillary proceeding. ... If the interlocutory ruling is merely a step along the road to final judgment then it does not satisfy the first prong of
Curcio
." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
McGuinness
v.
McGuinness
,
In the present case, the record reflects that the issue at hand involved the
plaintiff seeking release of a copy of a document prepared in the context of a custody/visitation action, which no longer was pending. The resolution of that issue does not constitute a separate and distinct proceeding. In fact, the order arose not out of a separate motion regarding the psychological evaluation but rather out of multiple communications from the plaintiff to the court and its staff, years after the end of the proceeding for which the evaluation had been ordered. No motions were pending in the case at the time of the multiple communications. The plaintiff represented during oral argument before this court that he sought release of a copy of the evaluation in order to determine what motions, if any, he should file. This court, however, has previously recognized in the discovery context that "[a] party to a pending case does not institute a separate and distinct proceeding merely by filing a petition for discovery or other relief that will be helpful in the preparation and prosecution of that case." (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
Radzik
v.
Connecticut Children's Medical Center
,
The appeal is dismissed.
Specifically, the plaintiff claims that: (1) the court erred in restricting his ability to review the psychological evaluation, (2) such restriction violated his constitutional rights to due process and equal protection, (3) he was improperly denied access to the evaluation on the basis of an "informal notation on file", (4) the court improperly called a status conference in the absence of any pending motions in the case, and (5) the plaintiff's letters to the judges of the Superior Court did not constitute ex parte communications.
The plaintiff filed a motion for articulation dated February 3, 2017, which was denied. The plaintiff thereafter filed a motion for review of the denial of the motion for articulation. This court granted review but denied the relief requested.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.