Nova Benefit Plans, LLC v. Mortgages Unlimited, Inc.

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NOVA BENEFIT PLANS, LLC, ET AL. v.
MORTGAGES UNLIMITED,
INC., ET AL.
(AC 40166)
Lavine, Alvord and Prescott, Js.

Syllabus

The plaintiffs appealed to this court from the judgment of the trial court
denying their application to vacate and confirming an arbitration award
in favor of the defendants. The arbitrator had found that the agreements
and transactions that formed the basis for the present arbitration claims
were the same as those that were the basis for the claims in a prior
arbitration in 2007, and, thus, granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss
the arbitration action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, concluding
that the 2007 arbitration precluded the present arbitration. Thereafter,
the trial court denied the plaintiffs’ application to vacate the award and
granted the defendants’ motions to confirm the award, and this appeal
followed. Held that the plaintiffs could not prevail on their claim that
because the 2007 arbitration award was predicated on a manifest disre-
gard of the law, the trial court’s denial of their application to vacate
the arbitration award was improper; the 2007 award on which the present
arbitration award was predicated was confirmed by the trial court and
appealed to this court, which determined, in a decision released today
in Benistar Employer Services Trust Co. v. Benincasa (189 Conn. App.
), that the 2007 arbitration award did not constitute a manifest
disregard of the law, and, therefore, the plaintiffs’ claim failed.
Argued December 10, 2018—officially released April 23, 2019

Procedural History

Application to vacate an arbitration award, brought
to the Superior Court in the judicial district of Hartford,
where the named defendant and the defendant James
J. Benincasa et al. filed separate motions to confirm
the award; thereafter, the matter was tried to the court,
Noble, J.; judgment denying the application to vacate
and granting the motions to confirm, from which the
plaintiffs appealed to this court. Affirmed.
Daniel J. Krisch, with whom were Logan A. Car-
ducci and, on the brief, Daniel P. Scapellati, for the
appellants (plaintiffs).
Marc S. Edrich, for the appellee (named defendant).
Mark J. Kallenbach, with whom was Jerome Patger,
for the appellees (defendant James J. Benincasa et al.).
Opinion

LAVINE, J. The plaintiffs, Nova Benefit Plans, LLC,
for the Grist Mill Trust, Benistar 419 Plan Services,
Inc., for Benistar 419 Plan and Trust, Benistar Admin
Services, Inc., and Daniel Carpenter appeal from the
judgment of the trial court denying their application to
vacate and confirming an arbitration award in favor of
the defendants, James J. Benincasa, Jody L. Benincasa,
and Mortgages Unlimited, Inc. The plaintiffs claim on
appeal that the trial court improperly confirmed the
award that was predicated on a prior related arbitration
award, which, the plaintiffs argue, constituted a mani-
fest disregard of the law. This court determined in
Benistar Employer Services Trust Co. v. Benincasa,
189 Conn. App. , A.3d (2019), also released
today, that the prior arbitration award did not constitute
a manifest disregard of the law. We, therefore, affirm
the judgment of the trial court.
The following undisputed facts, as articulated by the
arbitrator, and procedural history are relevant to this
appeal. ‘‘In [November], 2007, [James J. Benincasa and
Jody L. Benincasa (Benincasas)] filed a demand for
arbitration (‘2007 arbitration’) against [Benistar 419
Plan Services, Inc., Benistar Admin Services, Inc., The
Grist Mill Trust Welfare Benefit Plan, and Benistar
Employer Services Trust Company (Benistar respon-
dents)]. The 2007 arbitration was decided by Arbitrator
Jeffrey G. Stein on May 15, 2013, and found that the
[Benistar respondents] breached their contractual obli-
gations and were jointly and severally liable to pay the
[Benincasas] for the actual costs they incurred on the
transfer of certain life insurance policies to themselves
by the Grist Mill Trust.
‘‘On or about March 4, 2013, [the plaintiffs in the
present case] filed a separate demand for arbitration,
seeking an award for breach of contract, indemnifica-
tion, vexatious litigation, unjust enrichment and fraud
or negligent misrepresentation . . . .
‘‘It is not disputed that the several agreements and
related transactions that form the basis for the instant
arbitration claims are the same agreements and transac-
tions that were the basis for the claims in the 2007
arbitration. In his final award, [Stein] stated that
although he had not seen [the plaintiffs’] new arbitration
demand, he ‘carefully reviewed all the documents
signed by the parties’ and that ‘all of these provisions
are certainly entered into evidence before me, and I
cannot determine the relative responsibilities of the
parties without reviewing them.’ . . . Stein stated that
the [Benistar respondents] . . . focused ‘on the provi-
sions of the documents that they believed exculpated
them from responsibility.’ Those same exculpatory pro-
visions form the basis for the contractual claims in
this arbitration, and [the plaintiffs’] contention that [the
defendants] failed to abide by those exculpatory provi-
sions and other contractual provisions forms the basis
for their . . . claims.’’ (Footnotes omitted.)
On August 19, 2013, Arbitrator William F. Chandler
granted the defendants’ motions to dismiss the arbitra-
tion action for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, con-
cluding that the 2007 arbitration precluded the present
arbitration. On September 13, 2013, the plaintiffs filed
an application to vacate the award, and the defendants
filed separate motions to confirm the award on Novem-
ber 13, 2013. On February 8, 2017, the trial court denied
the plaintiffs’ application to vacate and confirmed the
arbitration award. The plaintiffs appealed.
The 2007 arbitration award, upon which the present
arbitration award is predicated, was confirmed by the
trial court. The plaintiffs appealed. On appeal, this court
affirmed the judgment of the trial court, rejecting the
claim that the 2007 award was predicated on a manifest
disregard of the law. Benistar Employer Services Trust
Co. v. Benincasa, supra, 189 Conn. App. .
The plaintiffs claim that the trial court improperly
denied their application to vacate the award on the
ground that the 2007 arbitration award was predicated
on a manifest disregard of the law. We, however, have
determined that the 2007 arbitration award was not
made in manifest disregard of the law. The plaintiffs’
claim, therefore, fails.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.