City of Bridgeport v. Marion Smith et al. (2011)

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION ON DEFENDANT'S MOTION TO OPEN JUDGMENT

The plaintiff, City of Bridgeport, brought this action to foreclose on real estate tax liens pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes § 12–171 et seq. with a return date of July 10, 2007.   The plaintiff commenced this foreclosure action based upon a failure to pay real estate taxes for the years 2001 through 2005 on property known as 166–168 Fourth Street, Bridgeport, Connecticut.   On August 15, 2011, a judgment of strict foreclosure entered in favor of the plaintiff with law days set to commence on November 15, 2011.

On October 25, 2011, the defendant, Marion E. Smith, filed this motion to open judgment based on alleged overcharges due to incorrect assessments on the property.

“It is well settled that, if the owner of the properties at the times of the assessments in question had wanted to challenge the assessments, it would have been required to follow the appropriate statutory procedures, either by (1) timely appealing from the assessments to the city's board of assessment appeals pursuant to General Statutes §§ 12–111 and 12–112, and from there by timely appealing to the trial court pursuant to General Statutes § 12–117a, or (2) timely bringing a direct action pursuant to General Statutes § 12–119.[A] taxpayer who has failed to utilize the available statutory remedies [may not] assert, in an action to collect a tax ․ that the tax has not been properly assessed.”  (Internal quotation marks omitted.)  Danbury v. Dana Investment Corp., 249 Conn. 1, 12–14, 730 A.2d 1128 (1999).

Here, the defendant failed to follow the procedures established for bringing a challenge to assessed property taxes.   As a matter of law, see Hartford v. Faith Center, Inc., 196 Conn. 487, 493 A.2d 883 (1985), the defendant cannot raise its argument as a defense in this matter.   Moreover, given the four-year history of this case, equity dictates against opening the judgment.

Accordingly, the court will deny the defendants' motion to open.   However, pursuant to First Connecticut Capital v. Homes of Westport, 112 Conn.App. 750 (2009), the Court will set a law day of Tuesday, December 13, 2011.

HARTMERE, J.

Hartmere, Michael, J.