Jacques v. Jacques

Excerpt

The plaintiff sought to recover damages from the defendant for breach of contract. Specifically, the plaintiff's complaint alleged that the defendant breached the parties' marital separation agreement by failing to disclose certain assets. Following a trial, the trial court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant, from which the plaintiff appealed to this court. On appeal, he claimed, inter alia, that the trial court erred by concluding that his action was barred by the applicable statute of limitations (§ 52- 576 [a]) and determining that it lacked continuing jurisdiction to enforce the parties' separation agreement. Held that the plaintiff's appeal was moot; because the plaintiff failed to challenge an independent ground for the court's adverse ruling, namely, the court's determination that the plaintiff's breach of contract claim failed on the merits due to insufficient evidence that the defendant had breached the separation agreement, even if this court agreed with the plaintiff's claim that his action was not barred by the statute of limitations, there would be no practical relief that could be afforded to the plaintiff because of his failure to challenge the trial court's finding on the merits. Argued October 21—officially released December 24, 2019