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Barausky v. Zoning Board of Appeals

Appellate Session of the Superior Court
Jul 2, 1982
447 A.2d 758 (Conn. App. Ct. 1982)

Summary

In Barausky v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 38 Conn. Sup. 356, 447 A.2d 758 (1982), the same issue was presented for our consideration.

Summary of this case from Jajer v. Zoning Commission

Opinion

FILE No. 1289

The defendants moved to dismiss the plaintiffs' appeal to this court from the trial court's judgment affirming a decision of the defendant zoning board of appeals of the town of Litchfield. They claimed that this court was without jurisdiction to hear the appeal because by statute ( 8-8) the only appeal from a Superior Court judgment in a zoning matter is to the Supreme Court by way of certification. Since the statute (Public Acts 1981, No. 81-416), which provides that the Appellate Session of the Superior Court has jurisdiction over appeals from final judgments of the Superior Court on appeals from administrative decisions of any board, agency or political subdivision of the state, because it was enacted after 8-8, repealed, by implication, the conflicting portion of 8-8, the defendants' motion to dismiss was denied.

Argued April 19, 1982 —

Decided July 2, 1982

Motion by the defendants to dismiss the plaintiffs' appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court in the judicial district of Litchfield. Motion denied.

Patrick J. Wall, for the appellants (plaintiffs).

Robert L. Fisher, Jr., for the appellees (defendants).


This is an appeal from a judgment of the Superior Court in an action brought to that court on October 16, 1981, affirming a decision of the zoning board of appeals of the town of Litchfield. The defendants have moved to dismiss the appeal contending that the Appellate Session of the Superior Court is without jurisdiction to hear an appeal involving a zoning matter. We do not agree.

Public Acts 1981, No. 81-416, which repealed and republished General Statutes 51-197d so as to include the provisions in issue here, became effective July 1, 1981.

General Statutes 51-197d provides that the Appellate Session of the Superior Court "shall have jurisdiction of appeals from any final judgment . . ." of the Superior Court concerning an appeal taken from an administrative decision of any board, agency of the state or any political subdivision thereof. A decision of a municipal zoning board of appeals is an administrative decision of a political subdivision of the state within the meaning of this act.

General Statutes 51-197d was repealed and republished by Public Acts 1981, No. 81-416, which provides in relevant part as follows: "The appellate session of the superior Court shall have jurisdiction of appeals from any final judgment or action in the following matters: . . . (11) any appeal taken on or after the effective date of this act to the superior court in accordance with section 51-197b, as amended by section 3 of this act, from an administrative decision of an officer, board, commission or agency of the state or any political subdivision thereof."

Similarly, General Statutes 8-8 also contains provisions concerning appeals from proceedings in which the Superior Court has reviewed the decisions of zoning boards of appeal. It provides that "there shall be no right to further review except to the supreme court by certification for review . . . ." Since one law effectively authorizes appeals of zoning matters to the Appellate Session and another law authorizes appeals only by certification to the Supreme Court, an obvious conflict between the two statutes exists.

General Statutes 8-8 provides in relevant part as follows: "The provisions of chapter 902 to the contrary notwithstanding, there shall be no right to further review except to the supreme court by certification for review, upon the vote of two judges of the supreme court so to certify and under such other rules as the judges of the supreme court establish."

"When two legislative enactments are in conflict and cannot reasonably be reconciled, the later one repeals the earlier one to the extent of the repugnance." New Haven Water Co. v. North Branford, 174 Conn. 556, 565, 392 A.2d 456 (1978). "[T]he general rule is that a subsequent act will be found to have repealed the first by implication." State ex rel. Gaski v. Basile, 174 Conn. 36, 44, 381 A.2d 547 (1977) (Speziale, J., concurring).

The provision of General Statutes 51-197d authorizing appeals involving zoning matters to the Appellate Session became effective July 1, 1981. That portion of General Statutes 8-8 which established the procedure for certification to the Supreme Court became effective on September 1, 1971. Because of its more recent enactment, we conclude that the amendment of 51-197d constitutes the legislature's most current statement on this issue and, to the extent that a conflict exists, 51-197d repeals by implication the contrary portion of 8-8.

General Statutes 8-8 was itself repealed and republished by Public Acts 1981, No. 81-165, effective October 1, 1981. The new material, however, dealt with service of the notice of appeal and was not in conflict with any matter set forth in the republished version of General Statutes 51-197d.

We are mindful that General Statutes 8-8 takes up the special matter of appeals from zoning boards of appeals while 51-197d deals with the general matter of appeals from all administrative agencies. It is therefore arguable that the specific provisions of 8-8 ought to prevail over the general language of 51-197d which might otherwise be controlling. Atwood v. Regional School District No. 15, 169 Conn. 613, 622, 363 A.2d 1038 (1975).

This is not the case here for the reason that 51-197d specifically creates an additional right of zoning appeal in an intermediate appellate court where formerly none existed. Certification to the Supreme Court is still available to any aggrieved party from an adverse decision of the Appellate Session of the Superior Court. Thus by our declaring applicable to zoning matters the broader provisions of 51-197d, the zoning appellant loses nothing which was previously available under 8-8, and yet gains an additional appellate forum which is available as a matter of right and not as a matter of the more limited certification process. Such a result is consistent with the "presumption that the legislature, in enacting a law, did so in view of existing relevant statutes and intended it to be read with them so as to make one consistent body of law." Cicala v. Administrator, 161 Conn. 362, 365, 288 A.2d 66 (1971).

General Statutes 51-197f provides in relevant part: "Upon final determination of any appeal by the appellate session of the superior court . . .there shall be no right to further review except: . . . (2) The supreme court shall have the power to certify cases for its review upon petition by an aggrieved party and upon the vote of two justices of the supreme court so to certify . . . ."


Summaries of

Barausky v. Zoning Board of Appeals

Appellate Session of the Superior Court
Jul 2, 1982
447 A.2d 758 (Conn. App. Ct. 1982)

In Barausky v. Zoning Board of Appeals, 38 Conn. Sup. 356, 447 A.2d 758 (1982), the same issue was presented for our consideration.

Summary of this case from Jajer v. Zoning Commission
Case details for

Barausky v. Zoning Board of Appeals

Case Details

Full title:PETER BARAUSKY ET AL. v. ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS OF THE TOWN OF LITCHFIELD…

Court:Appellate Session of the Superior Court

Date published: Jul 2, 1982

Citations

447 A.2d 758 (Conn. App. Ct. 1982)
447 A.2d 758

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