Speer v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC

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Speer v. Nationstar Mortgage, LLC

SHERI SPEER v. NATIONSTAR MORTGAGE, LLC
(AC 46630)
Elgo, Moll and Clark, Js.

Syllabus

The plaintiff appealed from the trial court’s judgment granting the defen-
dant’s motion to dismiss her complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.
The plaintiff’s complaint sought damages for the defendant’s alleged actions
undertaken in violation of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act
(CUTPA) (§ 42-110a et seq.). The plaintiff claimed, inter alia, that the court
improperly concluded that she lacked standing to maintain her cause of
action because she had commenced the action during the pendency of a
bankruptcy proceeding and her claim became the property of the bankruptcy
estate. Held:

The trial court improperly granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss on the
basis that the plaintiff lacked standing to maintain her action against the
defendant, as most of the challenged conduct in support of the plaintiff’s
alleged violations of CUTPA occurred after the filing of the bankruptcy
petition and was not sufficiently rooted in the prebankruptcy past, and,
accordingly, the claim did not become property of the bankruptcy estate
as a matter of law.

Argued November 21, 2024—officially released September 23, 2025

Procedural History

Action to recover damages for the defendant’s alleged
violations of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices
Act, and for other relief, brought to the Superior Court
in the judicial district of New London, where the defen-
dant was defaulted for failure to plead; thereafter, the
court, Goodrow, J., granted the defendant’s motion to
dismiss and rendered judgment thereon, from which
the plaintiff appealed to this court. Reversed; further
proceedings.
Sheri Speer, self-represented, the appellant (plain-
tiff).
Benjamin T. Staskiewicz, with whom, on the brief,
was Geoffrey Milne, for the appellee (defendant).
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Opinion

ELGO, J. In this foreclosure and bankruptcy related
action, the self-represented plaintiff, Sheri Speer, appeals
from the judgment of the trial court granting the motion
to dismiss her complaint in favor of the defendant,
Nationstar Mortgage, LLC, doing business as Mr. Coo-
per, for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The plaintiff
contends that the court improperly concluded that she
lacked standing to maintain the claim set forth in her
complaint due to the fact that she commenced this
action during the pendency of a bankruptcy proceeding.
More specifically, the plaintiff argues that the court
improperly concluded that her claim was the property
of the bankruptcy estate and was not abandoned by
the trustee.1 We agree with the plaintiff that the court
improperly dismissed her complaint. Accordingly, we
reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand the
case with direction to deny the defendant’s motion to
dismiss.

The following undisputed facts and procedural his-
tory are relevant to this appeal. The plaintiff obtained
a mortgage on her home in Norwich (property). The
defendant is a servicer of that mortgage, acting on
behalf of the mortgage holder, Deutsche Bank, N.A.,
which commenced a foreclosure proceeding in 2010.
In May, 2014, the plaintiff was subject to an involuntary
bankruptcy petition and that petition listed the property
1
Relatedly, the plaintiff argues that the trial court failed to make sufficient
factual findings to support the granting of the motion to dismiss her com-
plaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Because we conclude that the
plaintiff’s cause of action was not the property of the bankruptcy estate—
and that the trial court, therefore, improperly dismissed the complaint—we
need not reach this issue. For the same reason, we need not reach the issue
of whether the plaintiff’s cause of action was abandoned by the bankruptcy
estate, such cause of action not having been the property of the estate in
the first instance.
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and the mortgage on the schedules filed in that case.2
In June, 2015, the bankruptcy trustee noticed an inten-
tion to abandon the property, and, after a hearing, filed
a record of abandonment with the Bankruptcy Court.
Only a few months after the filing on March 29, 2021,
of the plaintiff’s complaint in the present case, the bank-
ruptcy trustee filed its final accounting on June 8, 2021.
At all times relevant to this appeal, the plaintiff was
self-represented in the various proceedings.
In her complaint, the plaintiff sought damages for
alleged actions undertaken by the defendant in violation
of the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act (CUTPA),
General Statutes § 42-110a et seq.3 The complaint
alleged that the defendant, ‘‘in order to profit and enrich
itself to the detriment of the plaintiff and the mortgage
holder . . . made routine charges and assessments’’
for various homeowners association and condominium
association fees, despite the fact that the plaintiff’s
home is not subject to any fees levied by any such
organization. The complaint further alleged that the
defendant asserted charges for ‘‘maintenance’’ in 2020,
‘‘even though it never maintained or fixed the property
in any way,’’ as well as charges for inspections of the
property ‘‘up to and during 2020.’’ The complaint also set
2
In our June 27, 2024 order on a motion for review filed by the plaintiff,
this court took judicial notice of the bankruptcy proceedings in In re Speer,
United States Bankruptcy Court, Docket No. 14-21007 (AMN) (D. Conn.
June 24, 2015). Our review of the record of those proceedings indicates that
the initial involuntary chapter 7 petition was filed on May 20, 2014. On
January 5, 2015, the plaintiff converted the bankruptcy to a chapter 11 case,
although it was later converted again to a chapter 7 case. The bankruptcy
proceedings were lengthy and contentious. Ultimately, the trustee’s final
decree was issued, and the bankruptcy case was closed, on July 16, 2021.
3
Paragraph three of the complaint states: ‘‘The plaintiff brings this action
pursuant to [CUTPA] and the doctrine elucidated by the Connecticut
Supreme Court in Cenatiempo v. Bank of America, N.A., [333 Conn. 769]
219 A.3d 767 (2019).’’ For that reason, the trial court construed the plaintiff’s
complaint as one brought under CUTPA. In this appeal, neither party has
raised any issue as to the propriety of that construction.
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forth allegations that, ‘‘prior to initiation of foreclosure
proceedings and up to the present,’’ the defendant
engaged in underhanded tactics during the plaintiff’s
attempt to seek loan modification through the federal
Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), as
well as violations of the defendant’s obligations under
the federal Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
(RESPA). The complaint also alleged that the defen-
dant’s conduct was wilful and ‘‘ongoing’’ and that the
defendant ‘‘continues pushing forward with foreclosure
and accruing legal fees, costs and expenses’’ despite
its false representations that it ‘‘continues to work with
the plaintiff to restructure her loan and get it out of
foreclosure.’’4 It concluded with an allegation that the
plaintiff had ‘‘suffered actual and ascertainable losses
as a consequence of this conduct, which has included
an accumulation of interest, default fees, significant
arrearages, attorney’s fees, and a much higher monthly
mortgage payment, lost borrower incentive payments
under HAMP and emotional distress.’’ The plaintiff
sought damages under CUTPA, punitive damages, costs
of suit, and ‘‘other relief the court deems appropriate.’’
The defendant filed its first motion to dismiss on
July 6, 2021, contending that the prior pending action
doctrine precluded the plaintiff’s claims. In essence,
the defendant argued that, because the plaintiff had
challenged the accuracy of the affidavit of debt created
by the defendant in the foreclosure action, she should
not be allowed to pursue her claims arising out of the
alleged CUTPA violations that stemmed from the same
4
We note that the defendant was not the foreclosing party on the plaintiff’s
mortgage but was the mortgaging servicer. In a separate action, a judgment
of foreclosure was rendered by the trial court on August 22, 2025. See
Deutsche Bank National Trust Co. v. Speer, Superior Court, judicial district
of New London, Docket No. CV-XX-XXXXXXX-S (August 22, 2025). The plaintiff
has filed an appeal of that judgment. See Deutsche Bank National Trust
Co. v. Speer, Connecticut Appellate Court, Docket No. AC 49112 (appeal
filed September 8, 2025).]
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nucleus of facts. The court disagreed and denied the
motion to dismiss. In so doing, the court noted that the
defendant was not a party to the foreclosure action and
that the plaintiff ‘‘brought this action under CUTPA.
. . . [A] foreclosure action . . . is a separate [and] dis-
tinct cause of action from the consumer protection
action contemplated by CUTPA.’’
The plaintiff filed three motions for default against
the defendant, alleging a failure to plead. The plaintiff’s
third motion for default as to the defendant’s liability
was granted by the court in June, 2022.5 The court
denied the defendant’s attempts to open the judgment
and ordered the defendant to comply with discovery
requests. The defendant filed a second motion to open
the judgment of default in February, 2023.6
On the same day, the defendant filed a second motion
to dismiss for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, this
time premised on the bankruptcy status of the plaintiff
when she filed her complaint against the defendant. By
order dated May 8, 2023, the court granted the second
motion to dismiss. In a subsequent order articulating
the basis of that decision,7 the court stated: ‘‘At the time
the plaintiff filed this case, the plaintiff was in active
chapter 7 bankruptcy . . . . [A]ll property of the
[plaintiff], including prepetition causes of action of the
5
The court denied the plaintiff’s July 6, 2021 and May 2, 2022 motions
for default for failure to plead.
6
The court did not rule on the second motion to open.
7
The court originally granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss by order
dated May 8, 2023, stating that it granted the motion ‘‘for the reasons articu-
lated in the memorandum . . . filed by the defendant in support of the
motion to dismiss.’’ On June 6, 2023, the court issued a supplemental order
to correct a scrivener’s error in the May 8, 2023 order. On June 26, 2023,
the plaintiff appealed from that order. She subsequently filed a notice of
demand for decision, asserting that the trial court had not ‘‘provided a
memorandum of decision as to the order dismissing the case . . . and its
related orders . . . .’’ In response, the court issued an additional order on
October 13, 2023, to clarify the basis of its decision to grant the motion
to dismiss.
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[plaintiff], became the property of the bankruptcy
estate. The plaintiff has no standing to bring this action
and the court lacks subject matter jurisdiction . . . .’’
From that judgment, the plaintiff timely appealed to
this court.
During the pendency of this appeal, the plaintiff filed
a motion for articulation with the trial court, which the
court denied. The plaintiff then filed a motion for review
of that denial with this court. We subsequently granted
review and, in part, granted relief insofar as we ordered
the trial court to articulate its factual findings and legal
conclusions as to the claim that the bankruptcy trustee
abandoned the property, and all claims related to it,
prior to the filing of the complaint against the defendant.
The trial court issued its articulation of its factual
findings and legal conclusions on January 17, 2024. The
court found, inter alia, that the filing date of the involun-
tary bankruptcy petition was July 23, 2015,8 and that
8
We note that the finding that the petition was filed on July 23, 2015, is
belied by the record of the Bankruptcy Court docket, which indicates an
initial filing date in 2014. As discussed previously; see footnote 2 of this
opinion; the original involuntary petition was filed on May 20, 2014. Our
review of the bankruptcy docket reveals that the Bankruptcy Court granted
a motion to convert the case from chapter 7 to chapter 11 on January 5,
2015. The Bankruptcy Court also granted a motion to convert the case from
chapter 11 to chapter 7 on July 23, 2015—the same day as the hearing on
the trustee’s report of abandonment of the property. Title 11 of the United
States Code, § 1112, provides the conditions under which a debtor may
convert a case under chapter 11 to chapter 7. ‘‘Cause to convert a [c]hapter
11 bankruptcy case to [c]hapter 7 exists where reorganization seems unlikely
or unrealistic based on the [d]ebtor’s track record as debtor-in-possession
and where the risk of delay falls entirely on the creditors.’’ In re Milford
Connecticut Associates, L.P., 404 B.R. 699, 708 (Bankr. D. Conn. 2009).
Likewise, 11 U.S.C. § 706 grants a debtor subject to an involuntary petition
under chapter 7 the ability to convert the case to chapter 11. Pursuant to
11 U.S.C. § 348 (a), the conversion of a case from under one chapter of
[t]itle 11 of the United States Code to another chapter ‘‘does not effect a
change in the date of the filing of the petition, the commencement of the
case, or the order for relief.’’ 11 U.S.C. § 348 (a) (2018); see Headrick v.
Bradley County Memorial Hospital, 208 S.W.3d 395, 400 (Tenn. App. 2006)
(in determining whether cause of action is part of bankruptcy estate, court
looks to date of filing of original petition, not date when case was converted
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the plaintiff had filed the present action on March 29,
2021.9 Referencing the report of abandonment filed by
the trustee, the court further found that the trustee
abandoned the property on July 24, 2015.10 The court
determined that the claims raised in the present case
‘‘became the property of the bankruptcy estate at the
time of the filing of the bankruptcy.’’ The court stated
that it had granted the motion to dismiss, concluding
that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction because ‘‘the
plaintiff was in active chapter 7 bankruptcy . . . .
When [the plaintiff] filed the bankruptcy petition in her
capacity as the bankruptcy debtor, all property of the
debtor, including prepetition causes of action . . .
became the property of the bankruptcy estate.’’ The
court recited that it had rejected the plaintiff’s argument
to one under different chapter of title 11), appeal denied, Tennessee Supreme
Court (August 21, 2006).
The defendant concedes that the plaintiff’s complaint is based on events
that occurred primarily in 2020. As such, any discrepancy regarding the
court’s determination of the effective filing date and the actual filing date
as reflected in the bankruptcy file is of no moment for purposes of resolving
the plaintiff’s claim in this appeal. For that reason, we use the May 20, 2014
date as the filing date, which, as a matter of law, marks the point at which
the bankruptcy estate was created.
9
In its articulation, the court also found that ‘‘the bankruptcy petition
was an involuntary petition.’’ On appeal, neither party disputes that determi-
nation.
10
Our review of the record of the bankruptcy proceeding indicates that,
on June 19, 2015, the trustee of the plaintiff’s bankruptcy estate gave notice
of intent to abandon sixteen properties, including the property at issue in
this case, pursuant to 11 U.S.C. § 554 (a). Both the trustee’s affidavit (exhibit
A) and the report of abandonment were attached to the plaintiff’s memoran-
dum of law in opposition to the motion to dismiss, dated March 9, 2023.
Exhibit A, in support of the notice of intent to abandon, noted that Seaport
Capital Partners, LLC, a creditor, had objected to the abandonment and
made a ‘‘proposal for the purchase of the [plaintiff’s] equity of redemption.’’
Exhibit B noted that an objection to the proposed abandonment had been
withdrawn ‘‘in part’’ and that the trustee was, in fact, abandoning the sixteen
properties, including the property at issue here. A hearing on the matter
was held before the Bankruptcy Court on July 23, 2015, and the report of
abandonment of the property was filed with the Bankruptcy Court on July
24, 2015.
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that the property reverted back to her upon the filing
of the notice of intent to abandon because ‘‘at the time
of the filing of the instant action, the bankruptcy case
was still pending and the Bankruptcy Court had not
approved the bankruptcy trustee’s intention to abandon
[the property]. The final accounting of the bankruptcy
trustee was filed on June 8, 2021, after the filing of the
instant action on March 29, 2021. Moreover, the notice
of intent to abandon [the property] did not include
abandonment of claims arising from [the property],
such as the claims in the instant action.’’11
On appeal, the plaintiff claims that the court improp-
erly concluded that she lacked standing to maintain the
claim set forth in her complaint because it remained
the property of the bankruptcy estate.12 The plaintiff
argues that the CUTPA claim was never the property
of the bankruptcy estate.13 The defendant argues that
11
We note that the plaintiff argued, in her motion for review of the trial
court’s denial of her motion for articulation, that the trial court ‘‘merely
assumes that the existence of a prior bankruptcy, regardless of how, why,
or when claims came into existence, accrued or were addressed, must all
be precluded because of the mere existence of the bankruptcy.’’ We granted
review of the trial court’s denial of the motion for articulation but denied
relief to the plaintiff.
12
The plaintiff has set forth four issues in her principal appellate brief,
but the first two can be distilled to the claim that the court erroneously
determined that she lacked standing to pursue her CUTPA cause of action
because it remained the property of the bankruptcy estate. The plaintiff
also argues that the court erred in ‘‘not making any specific factual findings’’
including the date of her involuntary bankruptcy petition and when her
cause of action accrued, as well as that the bankruptcy trustee abandoned
the cause of action even if it were the property of the bankruptcy estate.
As we explain in our analysis of the plaintiff’s core claim, these issues are
subsumed by the central question posed by the plaintiff and will be discussed
as necessary.
13
As explained in footnote 1 of this opinion, the plaintiff argues in the
alternative that, if her cause of action were the property of the bankruptcy
estate, it was abandoned when the trustee abandoned the property. The
defendant counters that, even if the trustee did effectively abandon the
property, the trustee did not abandon any causes of action ‘‘arising from’’
the property. Because we conclude that the plaintiff’s cause of action was not
the property of the bankruptcy estate, we need not address these arguments.
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the court properly determined that the cause of action
remains the unabandoned property of the bankruptcy
estate because the plaintiff never scheduled the cause
of action during the bankruptcy proceedings.
At the outset, we note that ‘‘[o]ur standard of review
governing an appeal from a judgment granting a motion
to dismiss on the ground of lack of subject matter juris-
diction concerns a question of law and is plenary.’’
(Internal quotation marks omitted.) State v. Saunders,
132 Conn. App. 268, 270, 50 A.3d 321 (2011), cert. denied,
303 Conn. 924, 34 A.3d 394 (2012). The following rele-
vant legal principles guide our analysis. ‘‘A motion to
dismiss [for lack of standing] . . . properly attacks the
jurisdiction of the court, essentially asserting that the
plaintiff cannot as a matter of law and fact state a cause
of action that should be heard by the court. . . . A
motion to dismiss tests, inter alia, whether, on the face
of the record, the court is without jurisdiction. . . .
[A] party must have standing to assert a claim in order
for the court to have subject matter jurisdiction over
the claim. . . . Standing is the legal right to set judicial
machinery in motion. One cannot rightfully invoke the
jurisdiction of the court unless he has, in an individual
or representative capacity, some real interest in the
cause of action, or a legal or equitable right, title or
interest in the subject matter of the controversy.’’ (Cita-
tion omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Emer-
ick v. Glastonbury, 145 Conn. App. 122, 127, 74 A.3d 512
(2013), cert. denied, 311 Conn. 901, 83 A.3d 348 (2014).
‘‘When a . . . court decides a jurisdictional question
raised by a pretrial motion to dismiss, it must consider
the allegations of the complaint in their most favorable
light. . . . In this regard, a court must take the facts
to be those alleged in the complaint, including those
facts necessarily implied from the allegations, constru-
ing them in a manner most favorable to the pleader.
. . . The motion to dismiss . . . admits all facts which
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are well pleaded, invokes the existing record and must
be decided upon that alone.’’ (Internal quotation marks
omitted.) Gold v. Rowland, 296 Conn. 186, 200–201, 994
A.2d 106 (2010). ‘‘[I]n determining whether a court has
subject matter jurisdiction, every presumption favoring
jurisdiction should be indulged.’’ (Internal quotation
marks omitted.) Sousa v. Sousa, 322 Conn. 757, 770,
143 A.3d 578 (2016). Additionally, ‘‘[t]he plaintiff bears
the burden of proving subject matter jurisdiction, when-
ever and however raised.’’ Emerick v. Glastonbury,
supra, 145 Conn. App. 128.
The following relevant principles of bankruptcy law
are necessary to resolve this issue. Upon the filing of a
bankruptcy petition, a bankruptcy estate is immediately
created—this estate is comprised of statutorily-delin-
eated property that is broadly and expansively defined
at the commencement of the bankruptcy. See 11 U.S.C.
§ 541 (2018); Fed. R. Bankr. P. 1007. At this stage, ‘‘[t]he
debtor must file a formal statement with the Bankruptcy
Court including a schedule of his or her assets and
liabilities. See 11 U.S.C. § 521 (a) (1) (B) (i). The assets,
which become the property of the bankruptcy estate,
include all causes of action belonging to the debtor that
accrued prior to the filing of the bankruptcy petition.
. . . A cause of action becomes a part of the bankruptcy
estate even if the debtor fails to schedule the claim in
his petition. . . . Property that is scheduled . . . but
not administered by the plan, is abandoned to the debtor
by operation of law at the close of the bankruptcy case.
. . . By contrast, property that is not formally sched-
uled is not abandoned and therefore remains part of
the estate. . . . Courts have held that because an
unscheduled claim remains the property of the bank-
ruptcy estate, the debtor lacks standing to pursue the
claims after emerging from bankruptcy, and the claims
must be dismissed.’’ (Citations omitted; internal quota-
tion marks omitted.) Assn. Resources, Inc. v. Wall, 298
Conn. 145, 165, 2 A.3d 873 (2010).
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‘‘Whether a cause of action belongs to a bankruptcy
estate is a question of law . . . .’’ Chartschlaa v.
Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., 538 F.3d 116, 122 (2d Cir.
2008), cert. denied, 555 U.S. 1213, 129 S. Ct. 1534, 173
L. Ed. 2d 658 (2009). Once the bankruptcy estate has
been created, ‘‘only the bankruptcy trustee has standing
to pursue pre-petition causes of action.’’ Tyler v. DH
Capital Management, Inc., 736 F.3d 455, 461 (6th Cir.
2013); see also Seward v. Devine, 888 F.2d 957, 963 (2d
Cir. 1989) (prepetition causes of action belonging to
debtor become part of bankruptcy estate at commence-
ment of bankruptcy proceedings).
Moreover, ‘‘[b]ecause assets within the estate are
those that exist ‘as of the commencement of the case,’
11 U.S.C. § 541 (a), property acquired by the debtor
after the filing of a bankruptcy petition generally does
not become part of the estate.’’14 (Emphasis in original.)
Chartschlaa v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co., supra, 538
F.3d 122. ‘‘However, ‘[a]fter-acquired’ property will vest
in the estate if it is derived from property that was part
of the estate as of the commencement of the bank-
ruptcy. See 11 U.S.C. § 541 (a) (6) (making ‘[p]roceeds,
product[s], offspring, rents or profits of or from prop-
erty of [the] estate’ part of bankruptcy estate). Post-
petition property will become property of the estate
only if it is ‘sufficiently rooted in the pre-bankruptcy
past.’ ’’ Chartschlaa v. Nationwide Mutual Ins. Co.,
14
Title 11 of the United States Code, § 541 (a) (7), provides that ‘‘[a]ny
interest in property that the estate acquires after the commencement of the
case’’ becomes a part of the estate. The estate, however, is a distinct legal
entity and is not equivalent to the debtor who has sought the protections
of bankruptcy. See In re Doemling, 127 B.R. 954, 956 (Bankr. W.D. Pa. 1991)
(‘‘[A]fter the commencement of the case, the estate has an existence that
is completely separate from that of the debtor. Section 541 (a) (7) covers
only property that the estate itself acquires after the commencement of the
proceeding. Hence, there is absolutely no support for [the claim] that all
the debtor’s property, whether obtained pre- or post-petition, is property of
the estate unless specifically excluded.’’).
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supra, 122. But see Stanley v. Sherwin-Williams Co.,
156 B.R. 25, 26–27 (Bankr. W.D. Va. 1993) (claims sound-
ing in breach of contract and arising out of postpetition
events were unabandoned property of bankruptcy
estate). As our Supreme Court has acknowledged, there
is a split in federal authority as to what approach to
use in determining whether certain causes of action
that accrue postpetition are acquired by the estate or
remain the property of the debtor. See Weiss v. Smuld-
ers, 313 Conn. 227, 240 n.8, 96 A.3d 1175 (2014). As
explained by our Supreme Court, the two approaches
that courts use when resolving the question of whether
a cause of action is the property of a bankruptcy estate
are: (1) consult state law to determine when a cause
of action accrued; or (2) establish whether, even if a
claim arose postpetition under state law, it was, none-
theless, sufficiently rooted in the prebankruptcy past
such that it should remain the property of the estate.15
15
In Weiss, our Supreme Court observed that ‘‘[s]ome courts . . . have
determined that applicable state law determines when a cause of action
accrues and therefore consider that date in relation to the date on which
the petition was filed. . . . These courts reason that [a]lthough federal
bankruptcy law determines the outer boundary of what may constitute
property of the estate, state law determines the nature of a debtor’s interest
in a given item. . . . Therefore, whereas federal law instructs us that [a
cause of action] may constitute property of [the debtor’s] estate, state law
determines whether [the debtor’s] interest in the cause of action is sufficient
to confer on the estate a property right in the action. . . . The [United
States Court of Appeals for the] Second Circuit, whose decisions carry
particularly persuasive weight in our resolution of issues of federal law . . .
follows this approach. . . .
‘‘Other courts . . . deem the purposes of federal bankruptcy law control-
ling, namely, to secure for creditors everything of value the debtor may
possess in alienable or leviable form when he files his petition, while leaving
the debtor free after the petition date to accumulate new wealth in the
future. . . . These courts consider whether, even if a cause of action
accrued postpetition under state law, that action nonetheless was sufficiently
rooted in the pre-bankruptcy past and so little entangled with the bankrupt’s
ability to make an unencumbered fresh start that it should be regarded as
property of the bankruptcy estate. . . . Under this approach, if the claim
has sufficient roots in the prebankruptcy past but does not materially impair
the bankrupt’s ability to obtain the fresh start intended under bankruptcy
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Id., 240–43. In both Weiss and this court’s recent deci-
sion in U.S. Bank Trust, National Assn. v. Shuey, 232
Conn. App. 618, 643–46, 338 A.3d 353 (2025), the court
conducted both approaches without determining which
is applicable. We do the same here.

Accordingly, we first consider when the plaintiff’s
CUTPA action accrued under state law.16 Under Con-
necticut law, a cause of action accrues when a plaintiff
suffers actionable harm; actionable harm, in turn,
occurs when the plaintiff discovers, or should discover,
through the exercise of reasonable care, that an injury
has occurred and that the defendant’s actions caused
the injury to the plaintiff. See Champagne v. Raybestos-
Manhattan, Inc., 212 Conn. 509, 521, 562 A.2d 1100
(1989). ‘‘A cause of action, brought by means of a com-
plaint or a counterclaim, is a means of seeking redress
for having suffered harm.’’ Bank of America, N.A. v.
Aubut, 167 Conn. App. 347, 372, 143 A.3d 638 (2016).

With respect to the accrual of CUTPA actions, we
find instructive CUTPA cases addressing statute of limi-
tations defenses because the date of accrual is central
to the analysis. In Fichera v. Mine Hill Corp., 207 Conn.
204, 212, 541 A.2d 472 (1988), our Supreme Court held
that the statute of limitations began to run upon ‘‘the
occurrence of a violation,’’ as dictated by General Stat-
utes § 42-110g (f). (Internal quotation marks omitted.)
In holding that the action, commenced in 1984, was
barred, the court observed that the allegedly fraudulent
conduct occurred prior to 1979. Id., 210–11. The court
thus rejected the trial court’s reliance on the continuing
law, the claim belongs exclusively to the estate.’’ (Citations omitted; empha-
sis in original; footnotes omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Weiss
v. Smulders, supra, 313 Conn. 240–43.
16
We note that the accrual approach has also been referred to as the
‘‘categorical approach.’’ In re Desormes, 497 B.R. 390, 393 (Bankr. D.
Conn. 2013).
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course of conduct doctrine to toll the statute of limita-
tions. Id., 213. The court concluded that the ‘‘act or
omission complained of’’ provision in [General Statutes]
§ 52-584 was indistinguishable from the ‘‘occurrence of
a violation’’ language in § 42-110g (f). Id., 212–13. As
such, they warranted similar treatment in the way the
alleged event—occurrence, act or omission—triggers
the running of the limitation period. In rejecting the
claim that the defendant’s continuing course of conduct
operated to toll the statute of limitations, the court
relied on the absence of any allegations of other discrete
instances of fraudulent misrepresentation that could
have been the basis for a CUTPA violation occurring
after 1981. Id. The court stated: ‘‘To support a finding
of a ‘continuing course of conduct’ that may toll the
statute of limitations there must be evidence of the
breach of a duty that remained in existence after com-
mission of the original wrong related thereto. That duty
must not have terminated prior to commencement of
the period allowed for bringing an action for such a
wrong.’’ Id., 209.

Our Supreme Court, in Willow Springs Condomin-
ium Assn., Inc. v. Seventh BRT Development Corp.,
245 Conn. 1, 46, 717 A.2d 77 (1998) (Willow Springs),
subsequently clarified its holding in Fichera, observing
that it ‘‘stands for the proposition that an arguably fraud-
ulent or deceptive act that is itself claimed to be a
CUTPA violation that occurred more than three years
before the filing of the action cannot, by itself, toll the
statute of limitations. [Fichera] does not stand for the
proposition that independent fraudulent or deceptive
acts taking place within that three year period that
have been undertaken for the purpose of concealing
actionable conduct occurring prior to the three year
period cannot independently form the basis of a CUTPA
violation.’’
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In light of these principles, we turn to the plaintiff’s
complaint and consider whether her cause of action
accrued before or after the filing of the bankruptcy
petition. The plaintiff filed this action on March 29,
2021.17 The filing date of the involuntary bankruptcy
action is May 20, 2014. In her complaint, the plaintiff
alleges that the defendant, ‘‘in order to profit and enrich
itself to the detriment of the plaintiff and the mortgage
holder’’ made fraudulent charges ‘‘up to and during
2020.’’ The complaint also set forth allegations that
include unfair business practices related to loan modifi-
cation attempts. The complaint also alleged that the
defendant’s conduct was wilful and ‘‘ongoing’’ and that
the defendant ‘‘continues pushing forward with foreclo-
sure and accruing legal fees, costs and expenses’’
despite its false representations that it ‘‘continues to
work with the plaintiff to restructure her loan and get
it out of foreclosure.’’ We acknowledge that the com-
plaint is somewhat vague and that some of the pur-
ported conduct of the defendant appears to have
occurred prior to the initiation of the bankruptcy pro-
ceedings. Nevertheless, our review, considering the
complaint in the light most favorable to the plaintiff,
as we are obligated to do, reveals that most of the
alleged conduct in support of the plaintiff’s CUTPA
claim occurs well after the filing of the bankruptcy
petition. We reiterate that Willow Springs held that
‘‘independent fraudulent or deceptive acts taking place
within the three year’’ statute of limitations period are
not time barred. Willow Springs Condominium Assn.,
Inc. v. Seventh BRT Development Corp., supra, 245
Conn. 46. It follows then that a 2021 CUTPA action,
premised largely on allegations of independent fraudu-
lent or deceptive acts occurring well after 2014, accrued
after the filing of the bankruptcy petition and did not
become property of the bankruptcy estate.
17
Notably, the question of whether the plaintiff has alleged a colorable
cause of action under CUTPA is not before us.
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Considering the second approach under Weiss, we
conclude for similar reasons that the plaintiff’s cause
of action was not the property of the bankruptcy estate.
Claims that accrue postpetition can remain the property
of the bankruptcy estate when they are found to be
‘‘sufficiently rooted in the prebankruptcy past and so
little entangled with the [debtor’s] ability to make an
unencumbered fresh start . . . .’’ Segal v. Rochelle, 382
U.S. 375, 380, 86 S. Ct. 511, 15 L. Ed. 2d 428 (1966);
see also Mendelsohn v. Ross, 251 F. Supp. 3d 518, 524
(E.D.N.Y. 2017) (‘‘Segal’s holding, applied in numerous
Second Circuit cases, [is] that property that is acquired
post-petition can be deemed to be the property of a
bankruptcy estate, so long as it is ‘sufficiently rooted
in the pre-bankruptcy past’ of a debtor’’ (emphasis in
original)); In re Vasquez, 581 B.R. 59, 67 (Bankr. D. Vt.
2018) (‘‘[a]nalysis of whether a legal cause of action is
part of the bankruptcy estate has two components: the
general rule that a claim which accrues after the filing
of a bankruptcy petition is not part of the estate . . .
and the well-established exception to that rule, which
brings into the estate a claim that accrues postpetition if
it ‘is sufficiently rooted in the [debtor’s] prebankruptcy
past’ ’’ (citations omitted)); In re Desormes, 497 B.R.
390, 393 (Bankr. D. Conn. 2013) (concluding that ‘‘there
may be no bright-line test for whether a cause of action
that accrues post-petition will be included as part of
the bankruptcy estate’’).
In the present case, the breadth of the plaintiff’s com-
plaint has tenuous roots in the prebankruptcy past. The
complaint alleged various and ongoing conduct on the
part of the defendant, centered mainly in 2020, including
the assessment of fraudulent fees, as well as violations
of HAMP and RESPA, and repeated and ongoing false
representations through the foreclosure process. Put
differently, the only relationship that this cause of
action has to the prebankruptcy past is that the plaintiff
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took out a mortgage, which then was foreclosed on by
another party, namely, Deutsche Bank, N.A. Moreover,
the defendant concedes that the complaint centers on
events that occurred in 2020. See footnote 6 of this
opinion. To the extent that the complaint alleges a cause
of action arising largely out of postpetition conduct on
the part of the defendant, we cannot conclude that the
cause of action is part of the bankruptcy estate.
In concluding that the plaintiff did not have standing,
the court stated that the plaintiff’s cause of action
‘‘became the property of the bankruptcy estate at the
time of the filing of the bankruptcy’’—such filing being,
at the latest, in 2015. In so doing, the court seems to
have construed the plaintiff’s claim as a prepetition
cause of action that should have been disclosed upon
the initiation of the bankruptcy proceedings. The court’s
reasoning depends on the faulty assumption that—no
matter when a claim comes into existence and no matter
what connection (if any) it may have to the scheduled
property of the bankruptcy estate—it must be the prop-
erty of the bankruptcy estate simply because it arose
before the final accounting of the estate was completed.
As the foregoing discussion makes clear, this is incor-
rect as a matter of law.
We conclude that the trial court’s granting of the
motion to dismiss the complaint was improper. The
plaintiff has pleaded a cause of action that, as a matter
of law, is not property of the bankruptcy estate. For
that reason, the court incorrectly concluded that the
plaintiff lacked standing to maintain her complaint
against the defendant.
The judgment is reversed and the case is remanded
with direction to deny the defendant’s motion to dismiss
and for further proceedings consistent with this opin-
ion.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.