Opinion ID: 2326915
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: motion for order of contempt

Text: The defendants claim that the trial court improperly found them in contempt for failing to comply with the order of accounting and that the order of contempt should be vacated because it was not clear and unambiguous, was based on the court's erroneous determination that the automatic stay provision set forth in Practice Book § 61-11 [35] did not apply to an appeal from an order of accounting and was made without the presentation of evidence. The defendants also claim that the trial court abused its discretion in ordering punitive fines. The plaintiffs respond that the defendants' claim that the order was ambiguous and that there was no evidentiary hearing should not be addressed by this court because the defendants never argued in the trial court that the order of accounting was ambiguous or that they were entitled to an evidentiary hearing. With respect to the automatic stay, the plaintiffs rely on the trial court's explanation that the defendants did not seek clarification of the automatic stay provision, as they had done on a previous occasion when they had questioned the operation of the court's injunctive orders pending their appeal but simply chose to cherry pick which of the court's orders they would comply with and which they would ignore. Finally, the plaintiffs argue that the punitive fines were reasonable and that the defendants suffered no harm because they ultimately produced the financial records required under the order and thus no fines were imposed. We conclude that the defendants' claim is moot because, during the pendency of this appeal, they disclosed the requested financial records to the plaintiffs within the time required under the order of accounting and no fines were imposed. Accordingly, we dismiss the claim for lack of jurisdiction. [36] Section 1 of the order of accounting required the defendants to produce to the plaintiffs, on or before July 2, 2010, copies of the books and records of the Parish reflecting its intangible personal property from January 1, 2007, to the date of production. Thereafter, the defendants amended their original appeal to appeal from the order of accounting. On June 22, 2010, the defendants' counsel also notified the plaintiffs' counsel that the defendants had decided that ... they will not provide the information [regarding the intangible personal property] outlined in [§] 1 of the court's order [for an accounting]. That same day, the plaintiffs' counsel responded that the plaintiffs did not regard the amended appeal as an automatic stay of the trial court's ruling and inquired whether the defendants intended to ask the court for a stay of § 1, but the defendants did not respond and did not seek a stay of the order. The defendants subsequently complied with the other parts of the order of accounting but did not comply with § 1. Accordingly, the plaintiffs filed a motion for contempt on July 13, 2010, requesting the court to order that the defendants fully comply with § 1 without further delay, and that, if they persisted in their refusal to comply, to impose a fine on each defendant in an amount calculated to produce compliance. The defendants objected to the motion on the ground that the order of accounting had been automatically stayed by the filing of the amended appeal. Nevertheless, on August 24, 2010, the trial court held the defendants in contempt for failing to comply with § 1. It also ordered the defendants to provide all of the information required by § 1 within ten days and that, upon noncompliance and the filing of a motion for sanctions by the plaintiffs, each defendant would be separately and individually fined the sum of $200 per day, commencing on the eleventh day following the date of the order and continuing until the defendants achieved full compliance. The court also ordered that no part of any fine could be paid or indemnified by the Parish or from any Parish funds or assets. On August 26, 2010, the defendants filed a motion for review of the trial court's contempt order with the Appellate Court. On August 30, 2010, the Appellate Court dismissed the motion. Thereafter, the defendants produced copies of the Parish's financial records within the ten day deadline established by the order of contempt. On September 10, 2010, the defendants amended their appeal a second time to appeal from the order of contempt, and, on September 23, 2010, they moved for leave to file a supplemental brief in connection with their second amended appeal, which the Appellate Court granted on November 10, 2010. On that date, the Appellate Court also denied the plaintiffs' motion to dismiss the second amended appeal. No further amendments were made to the appeal. It is axiomatic that if the issues on appeal become moot, the reviewing court loses subject matter jurisdiction to hear the appeal.... Mootness implicates [this] court's subject matter jurisdiction and is thus a threshold matter for us to resolve.... It is a well-settled general rule that the existence of an actual controversy is an essential requisite to appellate jurisdiction; it is not the province of appellate courts to decide moot questions, disconnected from the granting of actual relief or from the determination of which no practical relief can follow.... An actual controversy must exist not only at the time the appeal is taken, but also throughout the pendency of the appeal.... When, during the pendency of an appeal, events have occurred that preclude an appellate court from granting any practical relief through its disposition of the merits, a case has become moot. [37] (Internal quotation marks omitted.) DiLieto v. County Obstetrics & Gynecology Group, P.C., 297 Conn. 105, 163, 998 A.2d 730 (2010). We are unable to afford the defendants any practical relief by reversing the trial court's order requiring full compliance with the order of accounting. The defendants conveyed the pertinent financial records of the Parish to the plaintiffs after the Appellate Court dismissed their motion for review, and no financial penalties were imposed because the defendants produced the records within the deadline established by the order of contempt. See id., at 160, 998 A.2d 730 (claim that trial court improperly concluded that certain pathology slides were patient `health record[s]' within meaning of General Statutes § 19a-490b [a] and, therefore, that defendants were required to disclose them to plaintiff, was moot because, during pendency of appeal, slides were disclosed to plaintiff and subsequently returned to defendants). Accordingly, we dismiss the defendants' claim as moot. The appeal is dismissed with respect to the defendants' claim regarding the finding of contempt and the judgment is affirmed in all other respects.