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WELLS FARGO BANK, NA v. FREDERICK CORNELIUS ET AL. (AC 32007)
DiPentima, C. J., and Lavine and Sullivan, Js. Argued February 16--officially released September 6, 2011

(Appeal from Superior Court, judicial district of Hartford, Aurigemma, J. [motion to dismiss]; Hon. Samuel Freed, judge trial referee [motion to cite in party]; Hon. Robert Satter, judge trial referee [judgment of foreclosure].) Frederick Cornelius, pro se, the appellant (named defendant). Charles D. Ray, with whom was Matthew A. Weiner, for the appellee (plaintiff).

Opinion

SULLIVAN, J. The defendant Frederick Cornelius appeals from the judgment of foreclosure by sale, rendered by the trial court in favor of the plaintiff, Wells Fargo Bank, NA. On appeal, the defendant claims that the court improperly (1) denied his motion to dismiss, (2) rejected his tender of payment as insufficient, (3) determined the amount of the debt, (4) considered the parties' motions in the wrong order and (5) imposed costs for filing the motion to open prior to placing it on the motion calendar. We disagree with all of the defendant's claims and, accordingly, affirm the judgment. The record reveals the following facts and procedural history. On May 30, 2008, the plaintiff filed a complaint for foreclosure of a mortgage against Cornelius, Margaret A. O'Brien and the tax collector of the town of Farmington,1 for real property located at 1507 Farmington Avenue in Farmington. Service was made by a marshal leaving a copy of the process at the subject property based on the determination that it was the defendant's usual place of abode. On June 27, 2008, the court rendered a default judgment against the defendant on a motion by the plaintiff for the defendant's failure to appear. On July 14, 2008, the court rendered judgment of foreclosure by sale and set a sale date of October 18, 2008. On October 1, 2008, the defendant appeared in the action and filed a motion to dismiss alleging that he had not been properly served at his actual address. In response, the plaintiff filed an objection to the motion to dismiss, and later filed a motion to open and vacate the default judgment, which was granted. The plaintiff also filed a motion to cite in the defendant as a party. The court granted that motion and ordered that the defendant be properly served at the address he provided, which the plaintiff did. On February 9, 2009, the court denied the defendant's motion to dismiss, noting in the order that the plaintiff had amended the summons and served the defendant at the address he provided. On October 13, 2009, the court granted the plaintiff's motion for summary judgment as to liability, and on February 5, 2010, the court rendered judgment of foreclosure by sale, finding the debt and fair market value of the property and ordering a sale date of May 8, 2010. On February 18, 2010, the plaintiff filed a satisfaction of judgment, indicating that the defendant had paid the plaintiff all amounts due as found by the court in the February 5, 2010 judgment. On February 24, 2010, the defendant filed the present appeal. We placed this appeal on the court's own motion calendar. Counsel and pro se parties were ordered to appear and to give reasons, if any, why the defendant's appeal from the judgment of foreclosure by sale should

not be dismissed as moot due to the filing of the satisfaction of judgment. On July 15, 2010, the parties appeared to argue the issues, after which we marked off the motion and ordered the parties to address the mootness question in their briefs. ``Mootness implicates [the] 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. . . . Because mootness implicates subject matter jurisdiction, it presents a question of law over which our review is plenary.'' (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) New Hartford v. Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority, 291 Conn. 502, 506

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