Fellows v. Martin, 217 Conn. 57 (1991)

Citation: Fellows v. Martin, 217 Conn. 57 (1991)
Parent Document: Fellows v. Martin, 217 Conn. 57 (1991)
Jurisdiction: Connecticut (state)
Effective Date: 1991-01-01
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/7894295/fellows-v-martin/ ↗

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We need not decide whether a tenant who deliberately refuses to pay rent may yet claim relief under the equitable doctrine against forfeitures where the forfeiture is as grossly disproportionate as it is in this case. Here, the trial court found that the tenant withheld the rent in a dispute over her parking accommodations. She apparently believed that she had the right to withhold rent if her landlord breached the lease. While her belief was erroneous; see Thomas v. Roper, 162 Conn. 343, 346, 294 A.2d 321 (1972) (as a general rule, covenants in a lease are independent); her misconception amounts to a mistake of law, rather than the type of “wilfulness” disapproved by Fountain v. Stein, supra, and other authorities. See Petterson v. Weinstock, 106 Conn. 436, 444, 138 A. 433 (1927). Indeed, we have specifically held that a court of equity may grant relief from a forfeiture when the defendant’s omission was caused by an error of law. Connecticut National Bank v. Chapman, 153 Conn. 393, 398, 216 A.2d 814 (1966); Bronson v. Leibold, 87 Conn. 293, 87 A. 979 (1913) (the court granted the defendant tenant’s equitable counterclaim *69in a landlord’s action to recover rent, where a buyer-mortgagor, mistaken as to his legal rights, reconveyed his property to the seller-mortgagee, who then ejected him for nonpayment of rent). The doctrine against forfeitures applies to a failure to pay rent in full when that failure is accompanied by a good faith intent to comply with the lease or a good faith dispute over the meaning of a lease. 2 M. Friedman, supra, § 16.2, pp. 840-41; 2 J. Pomeroy, supra, § 292.12 VI

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