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Zeller v. Consolini8/29/2000
The plaintiffs appeal from the judgment of the trial court rendered after the granting of the defendants' motion for summary judgment. The plaintiffs contend that the court improperly (1) rendered summary judgment because there was a genuine issue of material fact as to whether the defendants' prior actions lacked probable cause and (2) imposed on the plaintiffs the burden of establishing that the defendants were barred by statute or regulation from applying to rezone the plaintiffs' property. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.
The following facts are relevant to this appeal. The plaintiffs, A. James Zeller and Torringford Commercial Associates Limited Partnership, claim that the defendants tortiously interfered with a business relationship and initiated vexatious litigation. These claims arise out of challenges made by the defendants to the plaintiffs' applications to the planning and zoning commission of the city of Torrington (commission). Zeller owns six parcels of land in Torrington totaling approximately thirty-six acres, and is the general partner and majority shareholder of the plaintiff Torringford Commercial Associates Limited Partnership. The defendants consist of individual members of an unincorporated association known as Neighbors Against the Mall, attorney Maureen E. Donohue and the law firm of Howd, Lavieri and Finch.
In its memorandum of decision granting the defendants' motion for summary judgment, the court stated: "In 1987 and 1988, the plaintiffs sought and received zone changes for the subject property. After each zone change, the neighborhood defendants appealed the decision of the planning and zoning commission to the Superior Court. In both instances, the court dismissed the appeals; in both instances, these defendants sought certification to appeal further to the Appellate Court, which that court denied. In 1990, the inland wetlands commission of the city of Torrington granted a permit to the plaintiffs relating to the development of a mall on this property. The neighborhood defendants appealed that decision to the Superior Court, which dismissed the appeal. Certification was granted by the Appellate Court, and that court affirmed the Superior Court judgment dismissing the appeal in September, 1992.
"The events forming the basis of the plaintiffs' complaint here began in February, 1992, when the neighborhood defendants applied to the planning and zoning commission for the city of Torrington for a zone change of the subject property owned by the plaintiffs from restricted commercial to industrial park. Their application was denied, and through the representation of the attorney defendants, the neighborhood defendants appealed to the Superior Court. The plaintiff Zeller intervened as a defendant in that appeal, and the appeal was dismissed in March, 1993. The plaintiffs brought this action, claiming that the defendants knew that the plaintiffs had entered into a contract in June, 1991, to sell the subject property to a development company, conditioned on the plaintiffs' ability to deliver a final, non-appealable zoning certificate and zoning approvals for the property. The plaintiffs allege that the defendants' actions in seeking a zone change and appealing the denial to the Superior Court were sham proceedings, brought without probable cause and with improper motives."
The defendants moved for summary judgment and argued that, as a matter of law, their actions were based on probable cause so that judgment on all counts must enter in their favor. In a thoughtful and thorough memorandum of decision, the court, applying the Noerr-Pennington doctrine, granted the motion for summary judgment in favor of the defendants. The plain
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