with clean hands. Therefore, the defendant’s second
special defense fails.’’ (Citations omitted.)
The defendant contends that, in so ruling, the court
applied an incorrect legal standard in determining
whether his nonpayment of rent was wilful. ‘‘The ple-
nary standard of review applies to the preliminary issue
of whether the court applied the correct legal standard
in evaluating [a defendant’s] special defense.’’8 (Internal
quotation marks omitted.) Milford Redevelopment &
Housing Partnership v. Glicklin, 228 Conn. App. 593,
616, 325 A.3d 971 (2024), cert. denied, 351 Conn. 902,
329 A.3d 239 (2025).
Our Supreme Court has held that ‘‘[a] court of equity
will apply the doctrine of clean hands to a tenant seek-
ing . . . equitable relief; thus, a tenant whose breach
was [wilful] or grossly negligent will not be entitled to
relief. . . . It is axiomatic that, [when] a [party] seeks
equitable relief, he must show that his conduct has been
fair, equitable and honest as to the particular contro-
versy in issue.’’ (Citation omitted; internal quotation
marks omitted.) Boccanfuso v. Daghoghi, supra, 337
Conn. 245. ‘‘[A] tenant’s intentional nonpayment of rent
does not require a finding that the nonpayment is wilful
under the equitable nonforfeiture doctrine if nonpay-
ment is accompanied by a good faith intent to comply
8
Ordinarily, ‘‘[w]e employ the abuse of discretion standard when
reviewing a trial court’s decision to exercise its equitable powers.’’ (Internal
quotation marks omitted.) Boccanfuso v. Daghoghi, supra, 337 Conn. 239.
The defendant has made clear, however, that his challenge to the court’s
rejection of his equitable defense is limited to his claim that the court applied
the incorrect legal standard. Specifically, in his appellate brief, the defendant
states: ‘‘The defendant acknowledges that, when the question before the
Appellate Court is whether the trial court’s choice to withhold equitable
relief was unreasonable or unjust, the proper standard of review is abuse
of discretion. . . . However, this is not the question before this court. The
question before this court is whether the [trial] court applied the correct
legal standard in determining whether the defendant was entitled to equitable
relief and, under such circumstances, plenary review is required.’’ (Citation
omitted; emphasis in original.)
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