GRUENDEL, J.
The self-represented plaintiff, William Connelly, appeals from the judgment of the Superior Court dismissing his appeal from the decision of the defendant Freedom of Information Commission (commission)
At all relevant times, the plaintiff was incarcerated at the Osborn Correctional Institution (Osborn) in Somers. In a letter dated March 23, 2011, the plaintiff filed a request with the defendant Commissioner of Correction (commissioner) and the defendant Department of Correction (department) to obtain copies of all "psychiatric/psychological diagnoses and evaluations [and] military records" in his file at Osborn. On April 25, 2011, the plaintiff filed a complaint with the commission, alleging that the commissioner and the department violated the Freedom of Information Act, General Statutes § 1-200 et seq., in denying that request. Following a hearing, the commission issued a final decision in which it found that none of the requested records
On March 26, 2012, the plaintiff timely filed an administrative appeal of that decision in the Superior Court, along with an application for a waiver of fees. That same day, the court accepted the notice of appeal and granted the fee waiver request.
The commission was served, by regular mail, with a handwritten copy of the plaintiff's appeal on April 4, 2012 — fifty days after the commission mailed notice of the underlying decision.
In its December 28, 2012 memorandum of decision, the court found that the plaintiff had failed to comply with the service of process requirements of § 4-183(c). Specifically, the court found that the plaintiff's service of process on the commission was untimely. In so doing, the court rejected the plaintiff's exhortation to adopt the so-called
At the outset, we note that "[a]ppeals to courts from administrative agencies exist only under statutory authority.... A statutory right to appeal may be taken advantage of only by strict compliance with the statutory provisions by which it is created.... Such provisions are mandatory, and, if not complied with, the appeal is subject to dismissal.... The failure to file an appeal from an administrative decision within the time set by statute renders the appeal invalid and deprives the courts of jurisdiction to hear it." (Emphasis added; internal quotation marks omitted.) Nizzardo v. State Traffic Commission, 55 Conn.App. 679, 683, 739 A.2d 744 (1999), aff'd, 259 Conn. 131, 788 A.2d 1158 (2002). "A determination regarding [the Superior Court's] subject matter jurisdiction is a question of law. When ... the [Superior Court] draws conclusions of law, our review is plenary and we must decide whether its conclusions are legally and logically correct and find support in the facts that appear in the record." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Miller's Pond Co., LLC v. Rocque, 71 Conn.App. 395, 401, 802 A.2d 184 (2002), aff'd, 263 Conn. 692, 822 A.2d 238 (2003).
Section 4-183(c) provides in relevant part that "[w]ithin forty-five days after mailing of the final decision ... a person appealing as provided in this section shall serve a copy of the appeal on the agency that rendered the final decision.... If service of the appeal is made by mail, service shall be effective upon deposit of the appeal in the mail." On our plenary review, we conclude that the plaintiff failed to comply with that statutory requirement.
Our Supreme Court has held that "§ 4-183(c) requires both the filing and the service of the appeal within the forty-five day period"; Glastonbury Volunteer Ambulance Assn., Inc. v. Freedom of Information Commission, 227 Conn. 848, 853, 633 A.2d 305 (1993); and that "a failure to meet [that] time limitation remains a subject matter jurisdictional defect." Id., at 854, 633 A.2d 305; accord Bittle v. Commissioner of Social Services, 249 Conn. 503, 520, 734 A.2d 551 (1999) ("failing to make proper service on the agency in accordance with the relevant statutory provisions [of § 4-183(c) ] is a jurisdictional defect subjecting the appeal to dismissal"). It is undisputed that the commission mailed notice of its decision to the plaintiff on February 14, 2012, and that the commission received service of the plaintiff's appeal on April 4, 2012. As the court specifically found in its memorandum of decision, "the plaintiff has no proof that the complaint was deposited in the mail" within the forty-five day period.
The plaintiff nevertheless claims that the court misapplied that statutory requirement for a variety of reasons, only two of which merit any discussion. First, the plaintiff argues that the forty-five day time period in the present case commenced not on February 14, 2012 — the date that the commission mailed notice of its final decision — but rather on February 22, 2012, the date that prison officials allegedly delivered the notice to the incarcerated plaintiff. That claim is belied by the plain language of § 4-183(c), which provides that the forty-five day period commences upon the "mailing" of an agency's final decision.
The plaintiff also claims that the court erred in declining to apply the federal prison mailbox rule. See Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 270, 108 S.Ct. 2379, 101 L.Ed.2d 245 (1988) (notice of appeal deemed filed when prisoner delivers it to prison authorities for forwarding to court). In Hastings v. Commissioner of Correction, 82 Conn.App. 600, 604, 847 A.2d 1009 (2004), appeal dismissed, 274 Conn. 555, 876 A.2d 1196 (2005), this court expressly declined to adopt such a rule. We are bound by that precedent, as it is axiomatic that one panel of this court cannot overrule the precedent established by a previous panel's holding. See, e.g., First Connecticut Capital, LLC v. Homes of Westport, LLC, 112 Conn.App. 750, 759, 966 A.2d 239 (2009) ("this court's policy dictates that one panel should not, on its own, reverse the ruling of a previous panel" [internal quotation marks omitted]).
The plaintiff attempts to circumvent Hastings by grounding his claim in the protections afforded by article first, § 10, of our state constitution.
The judgment is affirmed.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.