Supreme Court of Connecticut
Rutherford v. Slagle
May 27, 2025352 Conn. 27
Summary
The court held that summary judgment is available in a Superior Court probate appeal because such an appeal qualifies as an "action" under the applicable practice rule. It nevertheless reversed the summary judgment because the Superior Court failed to conduct the required de novo determination of whether the trust required equal distribution, focusing instead on discovery issues in the Probate Court. The discovery issues did not eliminate the need to decide the merits because the parties could conduct discovery anew in the Superior Court.