DiPENTIMA, C.J.
The self-represented plaintiff, Jay Tyler, and cross claim plaintiff, Bruce Tyler, appeal from the judgment of the trial court granting in part the motion for summary judgment filed by the defendants Thomas Tyler, Russell Tyler, John Tyler, and Richard Tatoian.
This appeal pertains to an irrevocable trust executed by Ruth Tyler on October 8, 2004, for the benefit of her sons, John Tyler, Bruce Tyler, Thomas Tyler, Russell Tyler and Jay Tyler. The trust named Tatoian as trustee and provided for the termination of the trust upon Ruth Tyler's death, with the assets of the trust remaining after payment of various expenses to be distributed to her five sons in substantially equal shares. The trust specified, by reference to Ruth Tyler's will, that the shares allotted to the plaintiffs be reduced in accordance with the debt owed by each to Ruth Tyler. On April 1, 2010, Ruth Tyler died. Due to the value of the trust's assets and the amount of debt owed, Jay Tyler was not entitled to receive any money from the trust.
The lengthy and convoluted procedural history of this appeal began on January 28, 2011, when Jay Tyler commenced an action contesting the trust and alleging, among other things, that Thomas Tyler had exerted undue influence over their mother.
On April 15, 2013, the defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. The plaintiffs filed a joint objection. Both sides submitted affidavits and documentary evidence in support of their positions. The defendants also moved to strike certain portions of the plaintiffs' affidavits and documentary evidence. In a memorandum of decision dated August 22, 2013, the court granted the defendants' motion to strike some of the evidence.
On the basis of the remaining evidence and memoranda, the court rendered summary judgment on those counts asserted by Jay Tyler seeking to modify the trust, concluding that there was no genuine issue
As a threshold matter, we consider whether the ruling from which the plaintiffs appeal constitutes a final judgment for the purposes of determining the subject matter jurisdiction of this court.
"The jurisdiction of the appellate courts is restricted to appeals from judgments that are final. General Statutes §§ 51-197a and 52-263; Practice Book § [61-1].... The policy concerns underlying the final judgment rule are to discourage piecemeal appeals and to facilitate the speedy and orderly disposition of cases at the trial court level.... The appellate courts have a duty to dismiss, even on [their] own initiative, any appeal that [they lack] jurisdiction to hear." (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Liberty Mutual Ins. Co. v. Lone Star Industries, Inc., 290 Conn. 767, 793-94, 967 A.2d 1 (2009).
"A judgment that disposes of only a part of a complaint is not a final judgment... unless the partial judgment disposes of all causes of action against a particular party or parties; see Practice Book § 61-3; or if the trial court makes a written determination regarding the significance of the issues resolved by the judgment and the chief justice or chief judge of the court having appellate jurisdiction concurs. See Practice Book § 61-4(a)." (Citation omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Harnage v. Commissioner of Correction, 141 Conn.App. 9, 13-14, 60 A.3d 308 (2013).
Here, the ruling from which the plaintiffs appeal was a partial judgment, as it did not dispose of the entire complaint or cross complaint. Nevertheless, the ruling constitutes a final judgment with respect to Thomas Tyler, John Tyler and Russell Tyler, as it disposed of all the counts asserted against them. See Practice Book § 61-3. Accordingly, we have jurisdiction
On the other hand, the court's ruling disposed of only a portion of the plaintiffs' counts asserted against Tatoian.
We now consider the merits of Jay Tyler's claim that the court improperly rendered summary judgment on his counts seeking to have the trust modified. Jay Tyler argues that the court incorrectly concluded that there was no genuine issue of material fact with regard to whether Thomas Tyler exerted undue influence over Ruth Tyler. We agree.
We begin by setting forth the well established standard of review. "Pursuant to Practice Book § 17-49, summary judgment shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, affidavits and any other proof submitted show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Such questions of law are subject to plenary appellate review.... In deciding whether the trial court properly determined that there was no genuine issue of material fact, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party....
"Once the moving party has presented evidence in support of the motion for summary judgment, the opposing party must present evidence that demonstrates the existence of some disputed factual issue.... It is not enough, however, for the opposing party merely to assert the existence of such a disputed issue. Mere assertions of fact ... are insufficient to establish the existence of a material fact and, therefore, cannot refute evidence properly presented to the court.... It is frequently stated in Connecticut's case law that, pursuant to Practice Book §§ 17-45 and 17-46, a party opposing a summary judgment motion must provide an evidentiary foundation to demonstrate the existence of a genuine issue of material fact.... [T]ypically [d]emonstrating a genuine issue requires a showing of evidentiary facts or substantial evidence outside the pleadings from which material facts alleged in the pleadings can be warrantably inferred.... A material fact is one that will make a difference in the result of the case." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Marut v. IndyMac Bank, FSB, 132 Conn.App. 763, 767-68, 34 A.3d 439 (2012). Summary judgment is appropriate where no genuine issue of material fact exists, and the defendant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, with respect to any one element that the plaintiff is required to prove in order to prevail at trial. See Sherman v. Bristol Hospital, Inc., 79 Conn.App. 78, 90-91, 828 A.2d 1260 (2003) (summary judgment appropriate in medical malpractice action where no genuine issue of material fact existed as to essential element of causation); see also Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corp. v. Machado, 83 Conn.App. 183, 189-90, 850 A.2d 260 (2004) (summary judgment appropriate
Guiding our analysis is the relevant law of undue influence. "Undue influence is the exercise of sufficient control over a person, whose acts are brought into question, in an attempt to destroy his [or her] free agency and constrain him [or her] to do something other than he [or she] would do under normal control.... It is stated generally that there are four elements of undue influence: (1) a person who is subject to influence; (2) an opportunity to exert undue influence; (3) a disposition to exert undue influence; and (4) a result indicating undue influence.... Relevant factors include age and physical and mental condition of the one alleged to have been influenced, whether he [or she] had independent or disinterested advice in the transaction ... consideration or lack or inadequacy thereof for any contract made, necessities and distress of the person alleged to have been influenced, his [or her] predisposition to make the transfer in question, the extent of the transfer in relation to his [or her] whole worth ... failure to provide for all of his [or her] children in case of a transfer to one of them, active solicitations and persuasions by the other party, and the relationship of the parties." (Citations omitted; internal quotation marks omitted.) Pickman v. Pickman, 6 Conn.App. 271, 275-76, 505 A.2d 4 (1986).
On appeal, the issue before us is whether the evidence submitted by the parties,
The court concluded that there was no genuine issue of material fact as to three of the four elements of undue influence. Because Jay Tyler had the burden to prove all four of the elements, this conclusion prompted the court to render summary judgment. As they form the basis for the court's decision to grant summary judgment, we limit our plenary review to consideration of those three elements.
First, we consider the evidence concerning the first element, a person subject to undue influence. Bruce Tyler's affidavit recounts specific examples regarding Ruth Tyler's state of mind during the relevant time period, such as her inability to remember selling a car to one of her sons and her submissiveness in being forced to sell the family farm. This is the type of circumstantial evidence from which a jury could reasonably infer that Ruth Tyler was susceptible to undue influence.
Next, we consider the evidence concerning the second element, the opportunity to exert undue influence. The affidavits of both Bruce Tyler and Thomas Tyler discuss Thomas Tyler's frequent contact with his mother throughout the relevant time period. This evidence is sufficient to support a finding that he had the opportunity to exert undue influence over his mother.
Finally, we consider the evidence concerning the fourth element, a result indicating undue influence. Here, the evidence of Ruth Tyler's previous will, contrasted with her current will and trust, demonstrates a stark difference between how her estate was previously to be distributed and the distribution scheme at the time of her death. These documents constitute sufficient evidence of a result indicating undue influence to warrant submission of the issue to the jury.
None of this is to say that a jury ultimately will be persuaded by the evidence submitted by Jay Tyler. But given that "[i]t is the [trier] [of fact's] exclusive province to weigh the conflicting evidence, determine the credibility of witnesses and determine whether to accept some, all or none of a witness' testimony"; (internal quotation marks omitted) Traggis v. Shawmut Bank Connecticut, N.A., 72 Conn.App. 251, 260, 805 A.2d 105, cert. denied, 262 Conn. 903, 810 A.2d 270 (2002); we conclude that summary judgment was not appropriate in this case.
The appeal is dismissed with respect to Richard Tatoian. The judgment is reversed as to Jay Tyler's counts seeking to modify the trust and the case is remanded for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
In this opinion the other judges concurred.
We also note that James R. Mapplethorpe and Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., were named as defendants before the trial court, but are not parties to this appeal. We refer in this opinion to Thomas Tyler, Russell Tyler, John Tyler, and Tatoian collectively as the defendants.
The court refused to consider certain portions of the plaintiffs' affidavits because they were not based on personal knowledge. The court also refused to consider a letter and various newspaper clippings submitted by Jay Tyler because they were unauthenticated, contained hearsay statements and were irrelevant. Finally, the court chose to disregard a document that appeared to be Jay Tyler's answers to the defendants' interrogatories because the disregarded statements were not supported by specific facts. As the plaintiffs have not challenged these determinations on appeal, we will take into account only that evidence considered by the court.