Supreme Court of Connecticut
O'Shea v. Scherban
July 26, 2021339 Conn. 775
Summary
The court affirmed judgment for the defendants, holding that Stamford's charter unambiguously required the vacancy election to occur at the next biennial election in 2021, not at the regularly scheduled 2020 election. The court rejected the plaintiff's federal and state constitutional challenges, concluding that the charter created no constitutional right to an earlier vacancy election and that the votes cast in the unauthorized election could not be validated. The court also rejected municipal estoppel because the plaintiff could not show either a substantial loss or lack of means to learn the true legal situation.