Villao v. Paz
Syllabus
The defendant, whose marriage to the plaintiff had previously been dis- solved, appealed, challenging the financial orders in the trial court's judg- ment of dissolution. While the appeal was pending, the trial court denied the plaintiff's postjudgment motion for contempt, in which the plaintiff claimed, inter alia, that the defendant had failed to pay attorney's fees that had been awarded to him in the dissolution judgment, but ordered the defendant to pay those fees. The defendant filed a motion for review of the trial court's order determining that the automatic appellate stay pursuant to the rule of practice (§ 61-11 (a)) did not apply to the award of attorney's fees. Held: This court granted the motion for review and granted the relief requested, vacating the trial court's order, as the award of attorney's fees was automati- cally stayed under Practice Book § 61-11 (a) because the award did not fall within the orders exempted from the automatic appellate stay in § 61-11 (c), namely, periodic alimony, support, custody or visitation in family matters. Considered July 23—officially released September 30, 2025
Opinion Excerpt
************************************************ The “officially released” date that appears near the beginning of an opinion is the date the opinion will be published in the Connecticut Law Journal or the date it is released as a slip opinion. The operative date for the beginning of all time periods for the filing of postopin- ion motions and petitions for certification is the “offi- cially released” date appearing in the opinion. All opinions are subject to modification and technical cor